• There have been continued reports of attacks on Muslim Kashmiri university students across India by Hindutva extremists.
• Several Indian news channels have proposed a “Gaza-like” collective punishment in Pakistan, following the recent incident in Kashmir.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association has reported at least eight incidents of targeted violence in the northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab, describing them as part of a “deliberate and targeted campaign of hate.”
In Himachal Pradesh, which borders Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Kashmiri students were harassed, physically abused, and branded “terrorists” by Hindu mobs. Hostels were raided, doors broken down, and students forced to flee for safety.
In Punjab, Sikhs Declare That Such Brutality Will Not Be Tolerated on Their Watch
The video footage above shows a Muslim Kashmiri female student recounting an attack she endured by Hindutva thugs in Punjab,“The locals (Hindutva) were hitting us, using profanities, and banging on our doors. They called us terrorists. One of them grabbed my friend by the hair and twisted it. We ran—our sandals were left behind. We were too terrified to leave our rooms, fearing the mob would return,” she says.
The Sikh man addresses the audience and speaks with certainty, declaring that such treatment of innocent Kashmiris will not be tolerated in Punjab. “If anyone even looks at her the wrong way,” (he warns, gesturing towards the student), only God knows what will happen to them.” Throughout the video, the Sikh Indian man repeatedly refers to the Muslim Kashmiri girl as his sister.
In a separate incident in Punjab, a Kashmiri girl was filmed pleading for help, stating that a taxi driver had attacked and forcibly ejected Kashmiri girls from his vehicle.
In Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Hindutva extremists issued threats to hunt down Kashmiri Muslim students, warning them to vacate the state by 10 a.m. the next day or face violent attacks. Meanwhile, in Punjab, Kashmiri students were assaulted with sharp weapons inside hostel premises.
Another disturbing video surfaced from a village in Haryana, where Hindu extremists were seen beating and publicly humiliating two Muslim hawkers while warning them never to return.
Online, Hindutva-aligned social media accounts have intensified their anti-Muslim rhetoric, with calls for violence against Muslims. One viral post referred to Islam as “terrorism’s only religion,” while a Hindu extremist leader from Uttarakhand declared, “Kashmir should be free of all Muslims. It is the land of Hindus. It should be free of Islam and Muslims at any cost.”
Several Indian news channels have amplified these sentiments, calling for a “final solution” and even proposing “Gaza-like” collective punishment. Viral posts online have drawn comparisons to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military campaign in Gaza, urging India to adopt a similar strategy.
Furthermore, diaspora Kashmiri activist Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur was assaulted by Hindutva extremists in London in August.
On April 22, gunmen launched a deadly assault in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, killing at least 26 people, including tourists and off-duty Indian soldiers, and injuring more than 20 others. The Resistance Front (TRF), an armed group that emerged in 2019, claimed responsibility. All victims were reportedly men.
Indian authorities suspect TRF is either an offshoot or front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group. Some Indian officials believe Lashkar itself may have carried out the attack, using TRF to obscure its involvement.
In the aftermath, Indian security forces detained more than 1,500 Kashmiri Muslims for questioning as a wider crackdown on the region unfolded.
The attack comes amid ongoing unrest and repression in the Muslim-majority territory, which entered its fourth year under the direct rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2024. This follows the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019, which stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special autonomous status.
Human rights organisations, including the United Nations, have consistently raised concerns over widespread abuses in the region—ranging from mass surveillance and arbitrary arrests to land dispossession and gross discriminatory policies targeting Muslims.
Journalists and human rights defenders face heightened risks, with many detained under sweeping anti-terror laws. Meanwhile, groups like the TRF continue to engage in armed resistance, as many Kashmiris view India as an occupying force seeking to forcibly displace Muslims and alter the region’s demographic makeup in favour of a Hindu majority.
