Kashmiri sets himself ablaze after son’s detention
Family says authorities denied access to detained son as harsh raids expand across Indian-administered region
SRINAGAR, Kashmir (MNTV) — A man in southern Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir is in critical condition after setting himself on fire, an act his family says was driven by panic and desperation after police detained his son and brother during an expanding crackdown linked to the Delhi Red Fort blast investigation.
Hospital officials identified the man as Bilal Ahmad Wani, a dry-fruit seller from Qazigund, who suffered severe burn injuries before being shifted to Srinagar’s SMHS Hospital.
Residents said Wani had been pleading for days to see his detained son, Jasir Bilal, and brother, Naveel Wani, but was consistently denied access.
The family lives next to Dr Adeel Rather, a Kashmiri doctor arrested last week in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh over alleged links to the Delhi blast.
Police have claimed that Adeel’s brother is absconding — a claim that has triggered sweeping detentions, door-to-door searches, and raids across several districts in south Kashmir.
Local political groups say the father’s self-immolation attempt reflects the human cost of a climate where families fear arbitrary detention, prolonged interrogation, and lack of information about those taken away.
They argue that the authorities’ approach is exacerbating public anxiety in a region already marked by heavy militarization and prolonged political suppression.
Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, in a series of posts and public remarks, said Wani had been “terrified for his son’s safety” and that repeated appeals to meet him were rejected.
She warned that harsh policing and “random detentions” risk pushing a generation into deeper fear and alienation, adding that years of shutting down political avenues have left people with “raids, arrests, and surveillance instead of dialogue.”
She argued that since 2019, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir has seen a near-total collapse of political engagement, replaced by administrative control and security-driven governance.
According to her, the absence of dialogue, the escalating counterinsurgency measures, and the criminalization of dissent have created an environment where even routine investigations are experienced as collective punishment.
Mufti urged New Delhi to allow families access to detained relatives and shift toward a rights-based, people-centric approach. She said Kashmiris have consistently supported fair investigations — including into the Red Fort blast — but that the current dragnet must not be used to target neighbours, bystanders, or families with no link to the case.
Meanwhile, the Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) unit conducted additional raids on Sunday, including a search at the residence of a doctor in Anantnag. Officials have not disclosed how many people have been detained overall, nor how long individuals will be held for questioning.
Rights advocates say the incident underscores broader concerns that intensified policing without transparency is deepening trauma among families in one of the world’s most militarized regions.
For many, Bilal Wani’s act has become a symbol of the desperation felt by civilians caught between the state’s security apparatus and an opaque investigation stretching across the region.
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