Mussoorie, Uttarakhand: At least 16 traders from Kashmir have fled the hill town of Mussoorie after members of the Bajrang Dal allegedly attacked two Kashmiri shawl vendors, The Free Press Journal reported.
Footage shared on platform X by Nasir Khuehami, national convener of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, showed some men hurling communal slurs alongside physically assaulting the vendors.
One man was heard intimidating the vendors asking them not to turn up there again or ‘I'll cut you right here’.
Traders, hailing from kashmir’s Kupwara district, have been selling shawls in the area for several years.
Following the attack, they are now forced to leave behind stock worth lakhs of rupees.
Khuehami said that Mussoorie police, rather than providing protection to the vendors, advised them to vacate the place immediately due to ‘rising threats’ following Pahalgam massacre.
‘They were reportedly asked by the Mussoorie Police themselves to vacate the area and leave the state immediately, effectively abandoning their livelihoods,’ he reportedly said in the post.
However, police acknowledged they had advised vendors having no registration or police verification to cooperate with the drive targeting unregistered outsiders, but maintained that eviction was not enforced, it is reported citing The Indian Express.
The Dehradun Police reportedly said that an outfit named Karni Sena had recently taken out an anti-Kashmiri rally which was ‘strictly dealt with’.