Indian Muslims were condemning the Pahalgam incident and some members of the community were also facing unexpected attacks…
Mithila Raut
THE brutal April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, shocked the entire country. The horrific attack, which lasted about 20 minutes, saw the killing of 26 people, one of whom was a local Kashmiri Muslim. This inhuman incident triggered a wave of outrage across the country. People from all religious backgrounds, religious leaders, social and political organisations, strongly condemned the attack.
However, in some parts of India, a few self-proclaimed Hindutva supporters retaliated by attacking innocent Indian Muslims — people who had no connection to the terrorists or the attack, and who had no control over such terrorism. Some incidents are as follows:
1 In Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, on April 28, an FIR was registered against three individuals who allegedly forced a Muslim student to urinate on a Pakistani flag. A video of the incident went viral on social media, showing a group of youths surrounding the student, abusing him, and coercing him to commit the act.
2. In Toda village of Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh, a 25-year-old man named Sarfaraz alleged that on April 26, his neighbour, Govind, attacked him. According to Sarfaraz, the assailant said, “(you) killed 26, we will kill your 26 too.”
3. In Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, Shabbir Ahmad Dar, a Kashmiri resident selling pashmina shawls for the past 20 years, was beaten along with his co-worker by a Hindu right-wing group. Their shops were also vandalised. Shabbir said, “We were blamed for the Pahalgam attack, and threatened never to return.”
4. On April 23, Kashmiri students at Universal Group of Institutes in Dera Bassi, Punjab, were attacked in their hostel.
5. In Kharawar village of Rohtak district, Haryana, Muslim families were ordered to leave by May 2. In a WhatsApp message, Deepak Malik and other villagers demanded their eviction, citing the Pahalgam attack. Resolutions were passed to expel 15 Muslim families, living in the village for around 10-12 years. Most of them worked as mechanics and labourers in nearby factories or as small-time junk dealers.
6. In Mumbai’s Dadar area, on April 24, 21-year-old Sofiyan Shahid Ali was allegedly assaulted after being mistaken for a Rohingya Muslim. A case was registered against the BJP’s Mahim unit president Akshata Tendulkar and nine others at Shivaji Park police station. Akshata Tendulkar later denied the allegations on Facebook. Complainant Saurabh Mishra, who runs a towel stall in Dadar market with six workers, including Sofiyan (from UP), reported the incident.
7. On April 26, in Vakola, Santacruz, Mumbai, Bajrang Dal workers displayed the flags of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Palestine on the street as a protest against the Pahalgam terror attack. When some Muslim youths objected to the disrespect of the Palestinian flag, a clash broke out and some people were injured. When a fact-finding team from the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism visited the area, they found that Hindus and Muslims had lived in harmony in the Golibar area of Vakola for years, even attending each other’s ceremonies. However, attempts have been made over the last couple of years to create communal division. In this clash, a youth named Abrar Sheikh was beaten up by Bajrang Dal members simply because he wore a T-shirt bearing the name “Aseem” — his brother’s name.
These actions by majoritarian political actors clearly do not aim to bring justice to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack. Rather, it is evident that such heinous acts are being used to spread hatred against Muslims. Taking revenge on innocent Indian Muslims for the inhumane acts committed by terrorists is neither morally right nor legally justifiable.
According to the Union government, the April 22 Pahalgam attack was a plot by terrorists to incite communal tensions. On May 7 at 1:44 am, India launched Operation Sindoor in response. On May 8, Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, stated in a press briefing, “The manner of the attack was also driven by an objective of provoking communal discord, both in Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the nation. It is to the credit of the government and the people of India that these designs were foiled.” Every Indian citizen, including Muslims, played a role in defeating the communal agenda behind the terror attack.
If Muslims in India continue to face violence and threats every time such incidents occur, it only aids the agenda of enemy states like Pakistan to spread communal hatred in India. History shows that where social stability is disturbed, economic stability also suffers, in such scenarios, the most vulnerable, regardless of their religion, are the ones who suffer the most. Attacking innocent Indian Muslims in the name of nationalism is not an act of patriotism — it harms national unity and social harmony.
Yet, there is a hopeful side to this story…
Many scholars have strongly condemned terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Islam. Some have quoted Chapter 5, Verse 32 of the Qur’an, which clearly states: “Whoever kills an innocent person, it is as if he has killed all of humanity; and whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved all of humanity.”
India’s true identity lies in its unity in diversity. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on March 30, during his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio address, said that the celebration of various festivals and the new year across the country reflects this spirit of unity. He extended greetings for Eid and other festivals, urging everyone to strengthen the spirit of unity. Indians have shown their unity time and again by firmly standing against terrorism.
The Muslim community has also unequivocally condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Peaceful protests against terrorism were held by Muslims in states like Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Assam, and Karnataka. Prominent Muslim organisations such as Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind condemned the violence and demanded strict action against the perpetrators. These organisations stated that the attack contradicts the peaceful teachings of Islam. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, one of India’s leading Muslim religious organisations, described terrorism as a “cancer” and denounced the terrorists for acting against Islamic principles of peace.
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The writer is a prominent human rights activist. She is associated with the Mumbai-based Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism. The views expressed here are the writer’s own and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them.
