NEW DELHI (Kashmir English): In yet another disturbing incident highlighting the surge in harassment of Kashmiris inside India, a Kashmiri shawl seller was assaulted and humiliated in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, raising serious concerns over the safety and livelihood of Kashmiri traders.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Mohammad Ramzan, a Kashmiri shawl seller, was harassed and later assaulted by a Hindutva gangster identified as Surjeet Rajput Guleria.
Despite repeatedly asserting that he is an Indian citizen, Ramzan was forced to prove his identity, threatened, and given an ultimatum to leave the state.
Eyewitnesses said the attacker checked Ramzan’s shawl bundles and mockingly accused him of carrying an AK-47 instead of Kashmiri shawls—an act widely described as humiliating, communal, and unlawful. Locals revealed that the same individual had harassed and assaulted at least three other Kashmiri shawl sellers in the area last month, yet no effective action was taken, emboldening such elements.
Reports further said Kashmiri traders in the region are being systematically intimidated, threatened, and prevented from selling their goods, with warnings issued to vacate the area.
The campaign of fear appears aimed at denying them their right to livelihood through coercion and communal profiling.
Harassment against Kashmiri traders
This incident marks the fourth such case in Himachal Pradesh this year, reflecting a chilling and recurring pattern of targeted harassment against Kashmiri traders.
Meanwhile, in a related incident exposing the rise of mob vigilantism, a group of around 25 Bajrang Dal activists tried to threaten a man named Deepak for protecting a Muslim individual.
