Kashmiri in India face violence after the deadly attack

Shabir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Kashmir, who has been engaged in Indian, has been selling “Pashminsky Scales” for over 20 years.

The bizarre embroidered scarves in light weight are a customer in Musar, worsen the town in the Northern State of Utarakhand, where it works.

For their buyers, scales are a sign of luxury. For the gift they are a metaphor for home; Its traditional patterns, struck by history and a sign of his cash identity.

But lately, the same identity feels like a curse.

On Sunday, the gift along with another seller was publicly persecuted and attacked by the members of the Hindu right group, which reportedly Killing 26 people in a popular tourist place In Kashmir last week. India has accused Pakistan of the attack – Islamabad denies.

A video of the attack shows that men smoke and abuse the gift and his friend when they knock out a stall located on a busy boulevard.

“They accused us of the attack, ordered us to leave the city and never show our face again,” the gift said.

He says his thousands of dollars are still lying there. “But we’re too afraid to go back.”

As the indignation about the attack spread, the police arrested three men on Wednesday, but later released them after charging a fine and asking them to “apologize” before the gift and his colleagues.

But the gift was already gone by that time, along with dozens of other Kashmir Schol sellers, who, living in the Mussar for decades, say that they no longer feel safe.

Many who survived as a result of an attack of the moon – the deadly, aimed at civilians in recent years – said the militants were specifically aimed at Hindu, causing anger and sadness in India, and the party’s politicians demand strict action.

Since then, in Indian cities that face more than a dozen reports of Kashmira providers and students who are faced with harassment, struggle and threats from right -wing groups – but also from their own classmates, customers and neighbors. Videos showing students expelled from campus and beaten on the streets are cascading on the Internet.

On Thursday, one of those who survived, the husband of whose military officer killed as a result of the militant attack, turned to the people Do not follow Muslims and Kashmir. “We want the world and the only peace,” she said.

But security problems made many cashmers like a gift, return home.

Ummat Shabir, a student of outdated university at Punjab, said some women in her surroundings accused her of being a “terrorist who should be thrown” last week.

“On the same day, my classmate was expelled with a taxi to his driver after he learned that she was Kashmir,” she said. “It took us three days to return to Kashmir, but we didn’t have the opportunity. We needed to go.”

Ms Shabir returned to her hometown, but for many others, she no longer feels safe.

As the search for criminals are on the last week continued, the security forces in Kashmir detained thousands of people, excluded more than 50 tourist destinations sent to additional armies and paramilitary troops as well as Blowed up several houses belonging to the families of suspected militants they accuse of “terrorist affiliation”.

The repression caused fear and concern among civilians, many of whom called the form of “collective punishment” against them.

Without mentioning the demolition, Chief Minister Jammo and Kashmir Omar Abdul said that the guilty should be punished without mercy, “but do not allow innocent people to become laid.” Former chief Minister Mehbo Mufti also criticized the wear, warning the government to distinguish “terrorists and civilians”.

“Every time the tension grows, we are the first to carry it.

However, the reverse reaction feels much worse, says Shafi Subhan, a sales seller from the Kupwar region, who also worked in Musar.

During his 20 years of doing business there, Subhan said he had never encountered a public threat – even after the 2019 terrorist attacks in the Pulvam district, which killed 40 paramilitary police paratroopers.

For him, Mussar felt at home, a place where he found peace – despite being in hundreds of kilometers. He said he shared an emotional connection with his clients who came from all over the country

“People were always good to us, they wore our clothes with such joy,” Subhan reminded. “But on the day when our colleagues attacked, no one came to help. The public just stood and looked. It hurt them physically – but emotionally, much more.”

Returning home to Kashmir, peace has long been fragile. Both India and Pakistan claim that the territory is fully, but will introduce individual parts, and the armed uprising is reliable in the Indian region for more than three decades, stating thousands of lives.

The angry between them are civilians who say they feel in an endless state, which feels particularly suffocating when the connections between India and Pakistan fall into tension.

Many claim that in the past military confrontations between peoples were accompanied by the waves of persecution and violence against Kashmir, as well as significant security and communication in the region.

In recent years, violence has decreased, and officials have indicated improving infrastructure, tourism and investment as signs of greater stability, especially since 2019, when the special constitutional status of the region has been abolished in accordance with Article 370.

But arrests and security operations continue, and critics claim that peace has come at the expense of civil liberties and political freedoms.

“The needle of suspicion is always located in the locals, even when militancy has fallen in the last decade,” says Anuradha Bhasin, head of Kashmir Times editor. “They should always prove their innocence.”

As the news of the murder spread last week, Kashmiris poured out on the street, holding candles and protesting. Full shutdown was observed a day after the attack, and the newspapers published black front pages. Omar Abdulu publicly apologizedSaying he “failed his guests.”

Ms Bhasin says that the kashmir’s return reaction against such attacks is not new; In the past, there was a similar condemnation, albeit on a smaller scale. “Nobody tells civil murders there – they are too well aware of the loss of loved ones.”

But she adds that it is dishonest to impose the severity of the procedure of innocence in Kashmir when they themselves became targets of hatred and violence. “It would just have more fear and even more alienated people, many of whom already feel isolated from the rest of the country.”

Mirza Wahid, a novelist of Kashmir, believes that Kashmir is “especially vulnerable as they are seen through another lens”, being part of India’s Muslim population.

“The saddest part is many of them will suffer from screams and humiliation, for a while lie low, and wait for it to bring because they have life to live.”

Nobody knows this best Mohammada Shafi Gift, a daily wage worker at Kashmir Store, whose house was undermined last week.

Five days he still collects pieces.

“We have all lost,” said the gift that now lives in the open air with his wife, three daughters and son. “We don’t even have cooking utensils.”

He says his family does not imagine where their second 20-year-old son is, whether he joined the militant, or even dead or alive. His parents say the college student left the house last October and never returned. They have not talked since then.

“However, we were punished for his alleged crimes. Why?”