Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 18: CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami has asked the Union Government to come clear on the de-radicalisation camps operating in India and alleged that they were “illegal and unconstitutional”.
“The Central Government should make it clear where these camps are operating,” Tarigami said in a statement issued here. He also said that “radicalisation should not be associated just with one religion and the fact is it is taking place in other religions also”.
He was responding to the January 16 disclosure by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat that de-radicalisation camps were operating in the country as “it was necessary to isolate people who are completely radicalised”.
“What the General said goes beyond his brief and the BJP Government must clear its stand on the issue”, Tarigami, a former MLA from Kulgam said, adding that operating such camps is “illegal and unconstitutional” and the Centre must answer where the 400 camps are being operated.
“There are already a lot of jails, camps and police stations in Kashmir. Why do you need more concentration camps? If at all there is radicalisation in Kashmir, it is because of disillusionment,” Tarigami said.
He said the de-radicalisation camps were completely “un- Indian” and the assumption that they are needed for a certain age group in one area of the country was clearly a fantasy. Whatever unilateral decisions were taken by the Centre on August 5 (2019) is bound to increase disillusionment, he added.
Tarigami asserted that the prevailing crisis in Kashmir needs a political response and not de-radicalisation camps.
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