Kashmiri activist urges Delhi to ensure safety of Kashmiris across India
Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Right to Information (RTI)activist and Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Forum, MM Shuja, has urged the Indian government to ensure the safety, dignity, and protection of Kashmiris living, studying, or doing business outside the occupied territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, MM Shuja in a statement said Kashmiris deserve the same respect and care across India that they consistently extend to tourists and pilgrims visiting the Valley. He recalled that on numerous occasions Kashmiris have provided shelter, food, and protection to tourists and pilgrims during difficult situations, even risking their own lives to ensure their safety.
He regretted that, in sharp contrast, Kashmiri students and traders—particularly shawl vendors—are frequently subjected to violence, harassment, profiling, and targeted attacks outside occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He said such incidents are perpetrated by Hindutva extremist elements, creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity for Kashmiris.
MM Shuja urged the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs to take effective measures and issue clear and binding directions to all states and union territories to ensure the protection and security of Kashmiri students and traders.
Rights activists maintain that the repeated targeting of Kashmiris across India reflects growing intolerance under the prevailing Hindutva-driven environment. They warn that the failure to act decisively will further alienate the Kashmiri people and expose the hollowness of India’s claims of democracy, secularism, and pluralism.
It is worth mentioning that incidents of profiling, harassment, and eviction from hostels and rented accommodations of Kashmiri students and traders have increased in several Indian states, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana, in the recent past.
Yesterday, in Dehra area of Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh, Hindutva extremists brutally assaulted a Kashmiri shawl seller, Jehangir Ahmad. The attackers verbally abused him, threatened him, vandalized his belongings, and demanded that he leave the state immediately. Jehangir Ahmad, who has been selling shawls peacefully in the area for the past 15 years, sustained fractures and multiple injuries and is currently undergoing treatment in a hospital.
Earlier, on December 22, 2025, a 28-year-old Kashmiri shawl trader, Bilal Ahmed Ganie, was assaulted, robbed, and forced to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” by Bajrang Dal workers in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand.
In another incident, Munawar Shah, a 45-year-old shawl seller from Kupwara, was stopped and questioned by two motorcycle-borne men in Himachal Pradesh, who demanded his entry card and Aadhaar identity documents. Similarly, Shafi Khoja, another Kashmiri shawl seller, was attacked and stabbed by three motorcycle-borne assailants in Punjab’s Jalandhar district on January 18, 2025, leaving him with 12 stitches on his head and six on his leg.
