Indian police have intensified inspections of chemical, fertiliser and vehicle shops across Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, triggering strong resentment among local traders who say they are being harassed and intimidated under the guise of “preventive security measures” following the Delhi Red Fort blast.

According to Kashmir Media Service, police teams carried out surprise checks in Islamabad, Ganderbal, Pulwama, Awantipora and other districts, scrutinising stock registers, licences, storage units, and sale records of fertiliser and chemical shops. Traders told the media that police personnel repeatedly warned them, questioned routine transactions, and threatened action over minor clerical discrepancies — a pattern they described as deliberate harassment. 

Local businessmen said the police are using the Delhi incident as yet another pretext to tighten control over the civilian population and disrupt normal economic activity in the occupied territory. “They enter our shops as if we are criminals. Every few hours someone new comes for checking. This is not regulation — it is intimidation,” a Pulwama-based fertiliser distributor said. Police officials claimed the inspections are aimed at preventing the “misuse” of regulated materials and ensuring compliance.

However, traders say the sudden, repeated raids — including checks at car dealerships and industries dealing with mixable raw materials — are part of a broader campaign to keep Kashmiri businesses under pressure. In Shopian, car dealers were told to produce exhaustive details of vehicles brought from outside the territory, creating unnecessary panic among buyers and sellers.

The drive follows the November 10 Red Fort blast in Delhi. Local business representatives argue that linking Kashmir-based shopkeepers to incidents hundreds of kilometres away reflects a prejudiced mindset that routinely criminalises ordinary economic activity in IIOJK.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)