HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
Homeless in Srinagar as per POTO Father arrested for 'harbouring' militants, family evicted; J&K govt approves ordinance MUFTI ISLAH (Indian Express, Nov 30 2001) SRINAGAR, NOVEMBER 29: AT first glance, this scene in downtown Srinagar is nothing unusual: two children, one six, the other four, fighting over a chocolate, the mother by their side being consoled by neighbours. On November 26, her husband Ghulam Muhammad Dar was arrested by the police for allegedly harbouring militants. But there's one difference this time. The police have sealed the door, nailed the windows, the family has been evicted-as per POTO. Jammu and Kashmir became the first state in the country to approve POTO today but for 35-year-old Hasina and her children, Abbas and Fayaz, their grandmother Jana Begum, the Special Operations Group of the J&K police came with the Ordinance on November 26 itself. Since then they have been spending the day on a coir carpet outside the house, the night with neighbours who take turns having them over. On her door is pasted a handwritten notice in Urdu: ''The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has seized this house belonging to Ghulam Muhammad Dar under Section 8 and 9 of Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance POTO. Dar has been harbouring militants and a search of the house had yielded a pistol and a wireless set.'' The notice warns that entry into the house by is an offence under the law. Away from TV studios and the seminar circuit, this aspect of POTO-Sections 8 & 9-has been rarely debated, the focus being on the provisions against the press: the power of the police to seize a property suspected to constitute ''proceeds of terrorism.'' TADA did not have any such provision. And POTO gives virtually unfettered powers on this score. In fact, residents can be evicted for an indefinite period and the property seized even if the person possessing it is not accused of committing any offence. Residents of the Safa Kadal neighbourhood where the house is cannot understand why the police has refused to let the mother and her two children stay. A group of neighbours took the two children, the mother and the grandmother to the police and the local adminstration for help. But nothing has come out of it. Today, it was even worse. Mohammad Ahsan Untoo, who heads the local Human Rights Front, arrived at the house with a group of supporters who tried to break open the lock. Police arrived and fired tear gas at the protesters who were chased away. A team of police personnel was posted at the house. Speaking to The Indian Express, K Rajinder, Inspector General of Police, said Dar's house served as a ''hideout'' for Al Badr militants. ''They used to hide in one of the rooms which opened through a cupboard. It was a scientifically designed hide-out with good ventilation and space for ammunition,'' he said. Police say Dar's address was found in some documents seized on November 23 after an Al-Badr deputy commander Hafiz was killed in an encounter at Zakoora in the city's outskirts. Khalid Najeeb Soharwardhy, Minister of State for Home, said that POTO was applicable in Jammu and Kashmir like in other parts of the country. ''It started the day when the ordinance was passed. If Parliament withdraws or makes amendments in it, it will then cease to be applicable or there will be change in it,'' he said. Until then, the family may have to remain homeless. * The property can be seized even if the person possessing it is not accused of committing any offence under POTO or any other law. * The police can throw out all the residents and seal the property without giving any notice to them. * No judicial supervision. The police do not have to take the court's permission before seizing the property. Nor do they have to report to the court after the seizure. * They can take up the matter only before an executive officer called the Designated Authority and they have 48 hours to do so. * There is no prescribed limit on how long the Designated Authority can take to decide the validity of the seizure. ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
