Tales of “hounding and harassment” were shared at a youth conference in Srinagar on Sunday (December 7, 2025) that sought to understand why local professionally qualified Kashmiris, including doctors with white-collar jobs, were turning to violence, an issue that came to the fore after the Red Fort blast in New Delhi. Organised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the conference was attended by the relatives of active militants, youth facing militancy charges and students who get ‘hounded’ outside J&K after militant attacks in Kashmir. “I was arrested just two hours before my exams for a law degree. Most of the rights I had read in the books were violated. I was picked up without a search warrant or an arrest warrant. My right to dignity was compromised when I was asked to remove my clothes. I realised that it’s might is right,” said Raqif Makhdoomi, an undertrial, who was arrested in 2021 on terror-related charges that are denied by him.  Speaking in front of a huge audience of youth and top leadership of the PDP, …