Kashmiri shawl seller assaulted in Himachal days after Uttarakhand attack
Srinagar: Days after two Kashmiri shawl seller brothers were brutally assaulted in Uttarakhand state of India, a fresh case of harassment and assault involving a Kashmiri shawl seller has been reported from Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh state.
According to Kashmir Media Service, 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.
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.
Earlier, two separate FIRs have been lodged in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana following incidents of assault on Kashmiri shawl sellers, the latest in a slew of such similar incidents.
In Himachal Pradesh, the FIR was registered on the complaint of Abdul Ahad Khan, a shawl vendor from Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district. Police said that the culprits were wearing masks and arrived on a motorcycle, following which they assaulted the shawl seller leading to his goods being damaged.
“Dozens of Kashmiri shawl sellers, who have been working in Himachal Pradesh for over 25-30 years, are now being harassed, assaulted, and threatened to leave the state in the Ghumarwin area of Bilaspur district by right-wing groups. This is the 17th such incident occurred in Himachal Pradesh this year,” wrote Nasir Khuehami, JKSA convenor on X.
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.”
