Angry Mobs Attack Kashmiris Across India Following Tourist Killings in Pahalgam; India Accuses Pakistan of Involvement

Strolling through the tight labyrinth of Jalandhar, a city in Punjab's heartland, Aasif Dar suddenly felt like he was under the piercing glare of everyone around him.

And it wasn't a friendly stare.

Related Tales

"I felt every single person in the beating crowd seething with vengeance," Dar recounted.

One day, while Dar and a buddy were stopping at an ATM, two shady characters approached them, inquiring about their lineage. The friends freaked and fled the scene. The following morning, on the 23rd of April, Dar left his home to buy milk. "Three men spotted me and hurled hateful slurs," said Dar. "One of them yelled, 'He is a Kashmiri, troubles always stem from them.'"

On the 22nd of April, shooters opened fire on tourists in Kashmir's popular resort town of Pahalgam, slaughtering 26 tourists and injuring a dozen more.

As New Delhi alleges Pakistan's indirect involvement in the attack, which was claimed by a militant group seeking independence from India, the killings have sparked religious and ethnic strife within the nation.

Join Al Jazeera

Breaking News Notification

While Indian troops continue their manhunt for the attackers in Kashmir's dense terrain, Kashmiris living across India, particularly students, have reported harassment, intimidation, and threats from extremist Hindu factions or even their classmates.

From Uttarakhand, Punjab, to Uttar Pradesh, landlords are pushing out Kashmiri tenants; shopkeepers refuse to do business with them. Numerous Kashmiri students are camping out at airports as they attempt to return home.

Someone else carried out the bloody rampage. "And here we are left bearing the brunt," said Dar.

'Suspicion lurks around every corner'

The disputed region of Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in parts by both India and Pakistan.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of indirect involvement in "cross-border terrorism" and the Pahalgam attack. Pakistan denies these allegations and maintains that it simply offers moral and diplomatic support for Kashmiri nationalism. It has claimed that India has yet to present any evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the Pahalgam attack, leaving the nuclear rivals in a tense standoff: India has abandoned a water-sharing agreement; both nations are expelling each other's citizens and are downgrading their diplomatic representatives in each other's capitals.

Yet, inside India, Kashmiris are bearing the brunt of the outrage following the attack.

Nearly a dozen Kashmiris who spoke with Al Jazeera, all anonymously, stated they are confined to their rooms in at least seven cities within India and avoid any external contact, such as ordering online or hailing cabs.

Dar is a final-year student of anesthesia and operation theatre technology in Jalandhar. This is the first time Dar has ever been away from his parents and Kashmir to further his education.

"There are no prospects in Kashmir, and I want to work hard to secure my future," he said on the phone. "If I excel here, I'll be able to support my family."

Unfortunately, reality is a grim picture for him. With his final exams fast approaching, Dar confessed he is filled with anxiety and despair. "I've forgotten everything I've learned these past few months," he said. "There's a constant uncertainty – I might miss class, go back home, I don't know. My thoughts are everywhere."

"There's distrust everywhere I look," he said. "We're considered the scapegoats."

Rumors began circulating that the gunmen intentionally targeted their victims by religion. Of the 26 deceased, 25 were Hindu men.

However, what went mostly unnoticed amid the whirlwind of anti-Kashmiri and anti-Muslim vitriol that swept across Indian social media after the attack was the identity of the 26th victim: a Kashmiri Muslim man who attempted to stop the attackers from killing the tourists.

"Today's India thrives on xenophobic propaganda, and this witch-hunt has been ongoing for a few years now; most of it is targeted at Muslims," said Sheikh Showkat, a political analyst and academic at Kashmir.

"Kashmiris bear a double burden: of being a Kashmiri – and a Muslim," he said. "They're always the targets."

'Give this treatment to Kashmiri Muslims'

Nearly 350 kilometers (217 miles) distant from Jalandhar, in the capital of Uttarakhand state, the leader of a far-right Hindutva unit issued a chilling warning on the 22nd of April.

"We won't wait for the government to act… Kashmiri Muslims, leave by 10 a.m., or else you'll face consequences beyond your imagination," Lalit Sharma, the head of the Hindu Raksha Dal, declared in a heated statement. "Starting tomorrow, all our workers will leave their homes to mete out this treatment to Kashmiri Muslims."

Similar threats flooded the social media feed of Mustaq Wani, a 29-year-old Kashmiri student in the city.

Chasing his master's degree in library science, Wani, who's older than the majority of Kashmiri students in the city, started receiving frantic calls from others. "We took the threats seriously," he said.

The history of violence against Kashmiris in the region is not forgotten: shortly after the deadly suicide bombing attack in 2019 in Pulwama, which killed at least 40 paramilitary personnel, Kashmiri students were tracked down, beaten, and forced to leave Dehradun. Several did not return to the city.

"This is our life," Wani lamented. "We face this again and again – why can't India destroy the militants in one fell swoop? They have an abundance of troops and the [number of] militants [is] minimal… someone kills someone and our lives are thrown into chaos."

Since the threats, Wani has assisted at least 15 students in their journey back to Kashmir. As for himself, he's holed up in a friend's home, preparing for his final exams set to begin next week. "We're scared and feel unsafe, but if I miss my exams, I stand to lose a lot," he said.

However, Wani said he felt a glimmer of hope after the police arrested Sharma, the far-right leader, assuring Kashmiri students of their safety.

Aasif Dar, a Kashmiri student in Jalandhar, feels the weight of suspicion and vengeance around him, reminiscent of the atmosphere that led him and his friend to flee from two shady characters questioning their lineage.
Political instability and violence in Kashmir have led Dar to pursue his education away from home, but his academic pursuits in anesthesia and operation theatre technology are now threatened by the tension and distrust that pervades India following the Pahalgam attack.
The disputed region of Kashmir has been subject to long-standing political disputes, with Pakistan accused of indirect involvement in "cross-border terrorism" by India, and allegations of religious and ethnic strife have escalated following the Pahalgam attack, which targeted mainly Hindu tourists.
The attack has amplified anti-Kashmiri and anti-Muslim sentiment on Indian social media, with some even speculating that the gunmen intentionally targeted their victims by religion, leading to threats and harassment against Kashmiri students across India.
Amid these warnings and threats, shopkeepers are refusing to do business with Kashmiris, and landlords are evicting Kashmiri tenants, echoing the hostility faced by Kashmiris in 2019 after the Pulwama attack.
As Kashmiris continue to bear the brunt of the outrage, officials and authorities need to prioritize the safety and well-being of Kashmiri students and citizens, working to dismantle the xenophobic propaganda and maintain peace in the country, lest the cycle of violence and fear continue unchecked.