SRINAGAR: Kashmiri shawl sellers and traders are facing increasingly difficult times in some North Indian states, with allegations of harassment and assault, including being asked to leave their places of work. The latest incident has been reported from the Fatehabad area of Haryana.
"A Kashmiri youth selling warm clothes was accosted by a right wing element in Haryana’s Fatehabad, who was holding a Kashmiri vendor by his collar and forcing him to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vande Mataram’. When the youth refused, he was threatened, grabbed by the neck, choked, and subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment,” the J&K Students Association said in a statement.
The Association also released a video purportedly showing the Kashmiri seller facing harassment.
“Another video of an innocent Kashmiri man being dehumanised, humiliated & thrashed only because he refuses to chant Vande Mataram. Surprised that @cmohry @HaryanaPolice27 @DGPHaryana are allowing this to happen with such impunity. You can’t force us to chant Vande Mataram or Jai Shree Ram. Deal with it,” PDP leader Iltija Mufti posted on X.
Recently, a group of Kashmiri shawl sellers, many of whom had been working Himachal Pradesh for over 25 to 30 years, alleged that they were repeatedly targeted and intimidated and asked to stop their business, which is their primary source of livelihood.
It was the 17th alleged incident of harassment of Kashmiri shawl sellers in Himachal Pradesh in recent months.
Kashmiri shawl sellers and traders have also faced harassment and assaults in Haryana and Uttarakhand.
According to J&K Students Association national convenor Nasir Khuehami, there is a "growing reign of terror against Kashmiri shawl sellers and traders across several North Indian states including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Uttarakhand."
“In just ten days, more than a dozen incidents of intimidation, harassment, threats, and violence have occurred. This is not an isolated phenomenon but a systematic and dangerous pattern of targeted harassment,” he said.
Khuehami said Kashmiri shawl sellers were being accosted, threatened, and forcibly made to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Jai Shree Ram and Vande Mataram’ slogans.
“When some Kashmiri traders refused, they were threatened, grabbed by the neck, choked, and subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment. Their belongings have been vandalised and looted, they have been prevented from selling their shawls, and in several cases their mobile phones were damaged when they attempted to record these incidents,” he said.
The J&K Students Association has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking urgent intervention to stop intimidation, harassment, and targeted violence against Kashmiri students and shawl vendors.
Peoples Conference chairman and MLA Sajad Gani Lone termed the attacks against Kashmiri traders as “hate crimes” against civilians.
In an appeal to Home Minister Amit Shah, Lone said, “these are incidents of hate crime against civilians, fellow Indians who are trying to earn a dignified living for themselves. Additionally they are ambassadors of integration with the rest of the country.”
“In the J&K context these attacks strengthen elements who are opposed to the idea of India in J&K. These attacks fall in the ambit of national security. Extraordinary measures would be needed to stop these acts. The concept of impunity is the big problem. Attackers it seems do not even remotely feel that the law of the land will catch up with them,” Lone said in a post on X.
The repeated incidents have created fear and uncertainty among Kashmiri students and traders pursuing education and earning their livelihood outside Jammu and Kashmir.