Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], January 31 : The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) on Saturday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking his 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 a letter to the Home Minister, the Association's National Convenor Nasir Khuehami said the latest incident occurred in the Vikas Nagar area of Dehradun, where the teenager, along with his family, was selling shawls 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.
The youth was allegedly beaten with iron rods, resulting in a fracture to his left arm and serious head injuries that required 13 stitches. His brother was also allegedly brutally roughed up, while other family members were dragged, slapped and assaulted. The victim was initially rushed to a local hospital and later referred to Doon Hospital, Dehradun, where he remains under medical supervision.
Terming the assault "not merely a criminal act but a grave manifestation of identity-based violence," the association said the incident strikes at the core of India's constitutional values, national unity and internal cohesion.
Khuehami emphasised that the Vikas Nagar Dehradun 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. These incidents, the association said, indicate a hostile environment in which Kashmiris are increasingly being profiled, targeted and made to feel unsafe solely because of their identity.
"As a consequence, many Kashmiri students and traders are presently living under constant fear and severe psychological distress. Several have been forced to leave states where they were studying or earning their livelihood," the letter stated, adding that repeated incidents of violence have led to disruption of education, loss of livelihood, and a deep erosion of dignity and personal security.
"Nothing damages the idea of India in Kashmir more than repeated instances where innocent Kashmiris are targeted, threatened, humiliated or forced to flee while perpetrators believe they can act with impunity," Khuehami said.
He added that such incidents risk "deepening alienation, weakening emotional integration and undermining India's long-term national interests." The letter stressed that Kashmiris are not outsiders but equal citizens and an integral part of the Indian Union, entitled to the same constitutional rights, freedoms and dignity as any other Indian.
The association further cautioned that allowing communal profiling and violence against Kashmiri citizens to continue unchecked could inadvertently serve the objectives of hostile external forces. "This is precisely what our hostile neighbour seeks to sow internal division, fracture social cohesion and weaken India's national fabric from within," it said.
Highlighting the historical role of Kashmiri traders, labourers and students who travel across the country for education and seasonal work, the association said they have long acted as silent ambassadors of integration, strengthening people-to-people ties through everyday interaction, trade and coexistence. "For decades, they believed that their social and economic future lay within India. Today, that belief is being shaken," it noted.
Stressing that violence, intimidation, and communal hatred must not be allowed to become normalised under any circumstances, the association urged the Union Home Ministry to intervene decisively. The association has also requested the Home Minister seek a detailed report from the Uttarakhand government on the Vikas Nagar incident and all similar cases reported over the past year, including the status of FIRs, arrests, prosecutions, convictions and preventive measures undertaken by the state.
The association has also sought clear, binding directions for the strict, time-bound enforcement of the law, the establishment of accountability where lapses have occurred, and the establishment of credible security and monitoring mechanisms to safeguard Kashmiri traders.
Khuehami said timely intervention by the Union government would help restore confidence among affected families, prevent further alienation and reaffirm the Centre's firm commitment to protecting the constitutional rights, dignity and safety of every citizen.