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PDP holds protest against attacks on Kashmiris in other states
The leaders said that recently Kashmiri students and shawl vendors are facing harassment and recently an 18-year-old youth who was earning his livelihood was attacked in Uttarakhand that has caused panic among the people across the UT.
The PDP leaders and workers including women cadres today held a protest in Srinagar terming harassment of the Kashmiri students and shawl vendors unacceptable. Carrying placards and raising slogans, the party leaders tried to march on the Residency Road, however police prevented them from proceeding.
The leaders said that recently Kashmiri students and shawl vendors are facing harassment and recently an 18-year-old youth who was earning his livelihood was attacked in Uttarakhand that has caused panic among the people across the UT.
“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,” PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said in a statement.
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has also raised serious concern over these attacks and said now they (government) have to look for employment avenues for youth in UT itself.
Students’ body writes to Amit Shah
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) on Saturday has written 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 to Shah, 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. Khuehami said that the 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.
