Indian police question Kashmiri travelers in Turkey

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

Indian-administered Kashmir police are questioning Kashmiris who recently traveled to Turkey, some individuals who were questioned told the Anadolu Agency.

The Turkish news agency reported on July 22 that the grandson of the current second prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Shazia Bakshi, wrote on Twitter that she, her 72-year-old mother and nine-year-old granddaughter were asked to visit a police station for answer questions. The trio had traveled to Turkey for five days in 2017.

Shazia wrote that according to a Department of Crime Investigation (CID) officer who visited her home, it was a “routine check” for all travelers who visited Turkey as “relations between India and Turkey are now bad”.

Journalist Aakash Hassan told Anadolu Agency that police from CID visited his home Wednesday in a village in Anantnag district and asked his parents about his whereabouts.

“My mother told me that I work in Srinagar. Then I got a call. The caller said he was from CID. He asked me about many things, such as the details of the trip, why I had been to Turkey, if there was a militant in my family, if I had been stopped for chopping stone. In fact, they had asked about me even from the head of the village, “he said.

“What struck me at this question was that they asked if I was a Hanafi or a Salafi. I jokingly told them, ‘I do not know myself what I am,’ but he said, ‘No, you must be one of they two “, said Hasani.

In January, Hassan enrolled in the Master of Political Science program at Istanbul’s Zaim University, but returned after regular classes were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Kashmiri man working in Ankara, who asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation, said police visited his home in Srinagar and asked about him.

“What I have done in Turkey is my educational background, regardless of whether I have been associated with any pro-freedom organization and other key questions that Kashmiris have been routinely asked by Indian agencies,” he said.

On Wednesday, Sobia Bhat, a student from Kashmir, wrote on Facebook: “Why are all those who have visited Turkey in recent years calling to investigate at local police stations? Some of my friends got a call last week. “And today it was me. Are they afraid of the title song Ertugrul Ghazis?”

When Anadolu Agency contacted Sobia, she said her father had gone to the local police station to respond on her behalf.

“They asked him to hand over a copy of the invitation letter I had received from the organization which had invited me to a workshop. Also, a photocopy of my passport. They were even asked about the details of my college bank account. Father im had to sit there for more than an hour, “said Sobia, who is pursuing her doctorate at the University of South Asia, New Delhi.

Some Facebook users have written about receiving similar calls.

One said, “My dad got a call about the same thing.”

Another: “Other friends have already been called. Meri baari aane wali hai (my turn will come too) “.

A senior intelligence officer with Jammu and Kashmir police told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity that authorities were creating a database of Kashmiris traveling to foreign countries.

“It’s a benign exercise. “People have been called to police stations just to check the information,” he said, adding that visitors to Turkey are currently being questioned. Anadolu Agency request for comment.

Turkey criticized India’s decision to remove the autonomous political status of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian government rushed in February when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan likened the Kashmir war to the Ottoman Empire war during World War I.

Erodgan said there was “no difference between Gallipoli and Kashmir”. The Battle of Gallipoli took place between the allied powers and the Ottoman Empire.

“Turkey will continue to raise its voice against oppression,” Erdogan said. “The three problems that our Kashmiri brothers have suffered for decades have been exacerbated by recent unilateral steps,” he said, prompting a harsh response from New Delhi.

“These remarks reflect neither the meaning of history nor the conduct of diplomacy,” said India’s foreign ministry.

More than 7,300 Kashmiris have been arrested and jailed in various Indian states since August. Most have been released. Three journalists were registered under an anti-terror law for social media comments and police reporting went against the rules. The other two have been questioned for their reporting.

– Controversial region

Jammu and Kashmir are held by India and Pakistan in part, and are claimed to be both in full. A small slide is also held by China.

Since splitting in 1947, the two countries have fought four wars – in 1948, 1965, 1971 and 1999 – three of them over Kashmir.

Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have fought against Indian rule for independence, or union with neighboring Pakistan.

According to some human rights groups, thousands have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.

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