Violence shattered winter calm in Dehradun as a mob targeted two Kashmiri shawl vendors, leaving one with grievous injuries and Jammu Kashmir reeling in collective anger. PDP’s street protests and a student letter to the Centre signal escalating demands for justice and security.
Srinagar buzzed with defiance Sunday, PDP cadres protesting vehemently at their headquarters. Leader Sara Naema’s speech seared: the young vendor’s sin—his Kashmiri Muslim identity—earned him a merciless thrashing amid honest trade.
Mehbooba Mufti took to X with piercing critique, lamenting bystander apathy during the near-fatal beating contrasted against police overkill on her party’s dissent march. ‘Caged in J&K, clobbered elsewhere: when does existence become illicit for Kashmiris in today’s India?’
Underscoring the call, Jammu Kashmir Students Association penned Home Minister Amit Shah, detailing Vikas Nagar’s descent into horror. The boy, shawl-selling through frosty nights for family sustenance, endured profiling that exploded into brutality post-identity confirmation.
Beatings with metal rods wrought arm fracture and head wounds needing 13 sutures. The association frames it as emblematic identity violence, striking at constitutional sanctity, national cohesion, and inter-community amity.
As medical bulletins trickle and arrests lag, the saga amplifies fears for Kashmiris far from home. Political heat mounts with PDP’s resolve for agitation and students’ advocacy for migrant protections. In this polarized climate, the attack lays bare fault lines in India’s social fabric, urging urgent remedial measures.