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Last week, the valley’s most widely read English daily Greater Kashmir reported that more than 500 political leaders and activists have been arrested, including the president of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association Mian Abdul Qayoom, activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat, former advisor of chief minister Mufti, Waheed Para, trade union leaders Shakeel Qalander, and Yasin Khan; and activist and wife of Hurriyat leader Nayeem Khan, Professor Hameeda Nayeem. A PTI report last week had said that 20 people including Qayoom had been transferred to Agra Central Jail. The report described them as “potential trouble makers”.

The government’s refusal to share the numbers of detainees is in sharp contrast to the eagerness with which the state has been quick to publicise estimates of the number of people who supposedly offered Eid prayers in the state

All communication lines in the valley remain severed, making it difficult for journalists and civil society activists to estimate just how many people have been jailed. Meanwhile, a police source told HuffPost India that the total number of those detained could be as high as 1500. The government’s refusal to share the numbers of detainees is in sharp contrast to the eagerness with which the state has been quick to publicise estimates of the number of people who supposedly offered Eid prayers in the state. “In the entire area of Jammu and Kashmir, we have reports or Eid prayers having been peacefully concluded. In Jammu, for example, 5000 people offered Eid prayers at the Eidgah…in Kashmir, people offered prayers in Baramulla…over 10,000 people offered prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid (Baramulla)...everywhere the prayers were facilitated,” the government spokesperson said on Monday. The Eid prayer numbers are meant to indicate that “normal life” has resumed in the valley. But when HuffPost India specifically asked the J&K government’s official spokesperson, Rohit Kansal, about the number of those detained, he said, “We have no idea about the numbers.”