JKSA writes to Home Minister over safety of Kashmiris; Mehbooba Mufti voices concern ​

Srinagar, Jan 31 (IANS) J&K Students Association (JKSA) on Saturday wrote to Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, on the recent attack on a Kashmiri shawl seller in Uttarakhand, as former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti, voiced concern over the safety of Kashmiris.​

JKSA wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking urgent intervention over what it described as a “disturbing and sustained pattern of identity-based harassment and violence” against Kashmiri traders, shawl sellers, labourers, and students across several North Indian states, following the brutal assault on an 18-year-old Kashmiri youth in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.​

In the letter addressed to the Home Minister, Association National Convenor Nasir Khuehami said the latest incident occurred in the Vikas Nagar area of Dehradun, where the teenager was selling shawls along with his family to earn a livelihood during the harsh winter months.​

According to the association, the youth was first questioned about his identity and place of origin. Upon learning that the family belonged to the Muslim community and hailed from Kashmir, the situation allegedly escalated into severe violence.​

The youth was beaten mercilessly with iron rods, resulting in a fracture to his left arm and serious head injuries that required 13 stitches. Blood was reportedly oozing profusely from his head at the time of the assault. His brother was also brutally roughed up, while other family members were dragged, slapped, and assaulted.​

The victim was initially rushed to a local hospital and later referred to Doon Hospital, Dehradun, where he remains under medical supervision.​

Terming the assault “not merely a criminal act but a grave manifestation of identity-based violence,” the association said the incident strikes at the core of India’s constitutional values, national unity, and internal cohesion. Khuehami emphasised that the Vikas Nagar Dehradun attack cannot be viewed in isolation.​

He pointed to a series of similar incidents over the past year involving Kashmiri traders, seasonal shawl sellers, labourers, and students in states such as Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and adjoining regions.​

These incidents, the association said, indicate a hostile environment in which Kashmiris are increasingly being profiled, targeted, and made to feel unsafe solely because of their identity.​

“As a consequence, many Kashmiri students and traders are presently living under constant fear and severe psychological distress. Several have been forced to leave states where they were studying or earning their livelihood,” the letter stated, adding that repeated incidents of violence have led to disruption of education, loss of livelihood, and a deep erosion of dignity and personal security.​

“Nothing damages the idea of India in Kashmir more than repeated instances where innocent Kashmiris are targeted, threatened, humiliated, or forced to flee while perpetrators believe they can act with impunity,” Khuehami said.​

He added that such incidents risk deepening alienation, weakening emotional integration, and undermining India’s long-term national interests.​

The letter stressed that Kashmiris are not outsiders but equal citizens and an integral part of the Indian Union, entitled to the same constitutional rights, freedoms, and dignity as any other Indian.​

The association further cautioned that allowing communal profiling and violence against Kashmiri citizens to continue unchecked could inadvertently serve the objectives of hostile external forces.​

“This is precisely what our hostile neighbour seeks to sow internal division, fracture social cohesion and weaken India’s national fabric from within,” it said.​

Highlighting the historical role of Kashmiri traders, labourers, and students who travel across the country for education and seasonal work, the association said they have long acted as silent ambassadors of integration, strengthening people-to-people ties through everyday interaction, trade, and coexistence.​

“For decades, they believed that their social and economic future lay within India. Today, that belief is being shaken,” it noted. Stressing that violence, intimidation, and communal hatred must not be allowed to become normalised under any circumstances, the association urged the Union Home Ministry to intervene decisively.​

It has requested the Home Minister to seek a detailed report from the Uttarakhand government on the Vikas Nagar incident and all similar cases reported over the past year, including the status of FIRs, arrests, prosecutions, convictions, and preventive measures undertaken by the state.​

The association has also sought clear and binding directions for strict, time-bound enforcement of the law, the fixing of accountability for lapses, and the establishment of credible security and monitoring mechanisms to safeguard Kashmiri traders.​

Khuehami said timely intervention by the Union government would help restore confidence among affected families, prevent further alienation, and reaffirm the Centre’s firm commitment to protecting the constitutional rights, dignity, and safety of every citizen.​

Meanwhile, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said on X, “When a young Kashmiri shawl seller is almost beaten to death in Uttarakhand, no one comes to his rescue. But when the PDP attempts a peaceful protest against such atrocities, the entire police machinery is unleashed to crush the march. Kashmiris are caged within J&K and thrashed when they step out to earn an honest livelihood. When even survival is treated as a crime, where are Kashmiris supposed to go from here? Are they even allowed to exist in New India?”

​--IANS

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