KASHMIRI separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq urged the authorities not to punish innocent families today after Indian security forces began destroying homes in the occupied region following a terrorist attack last week.

Since militant group Kashmir Resistance killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, in Pahalgam last week, tensions between India and Pakistan have skyrocketed.

In a statement posted on social media, Mr Farooq, chairman of the Kashmiri independence alliance All Parties Hurriyat Conference, said: “While Kashmiris collectively condemn the heinous crime at Pahalgam — and it is imperative to bring its perpetrators to justice — indiscriminate arrests and videos circulating on social media of demolition of houses and neighbourhoods, is disturbing and distressing.