Kashmiri Muslim trader brutally assaulted in India
Assault in Punjab sparks fear among Kashmiri business community as identity-based violence surges nationwide following Red Fort blast and growing communal hostility
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A Kashmiri Muslim walnut trader was brutally assaulted in the northern Indian state of Punjab, in an incident that has intensified concerns over the rising vulnerability and targeted attacks faced by Muslims across India.
The victim, Mohammad Yaseen, a resident of Kulgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, was beaten by staff members of a transport company in the industrial city of Ludhiana after questioning the disappearance of one box from his shipment of dry fruits.
A video of the assault, widely shared on social media, shows Yaseen being dragged and attacked as onlookers filmed the scene instead of intervening.
Yaseen, who has traded walnuts and dry fruits in Punjab for more than two decades, said the confrontation escalated after members of the transport staff discovered he was Kashmiri and Muslim.
“When I asked about the missing box, the staff became aggressive,” he said, describing how he attempted to resolve the issue peacefully but was instead met with abuse and violence. Men at the site, some reportedly intoxicated, allegedly shouted communal slurs before launching the attack.
“This is the first time in 20 years that something like this has happened to me,” Yaseen later told reporters. “Kashmiri people, not just in Punjab but across India, are being targeted without reason.”
Eyewitnesses said the violence was unprovoked and rooted solely in Yaseen’s identity. The attack has shaken the Kashmiri merchant community in Punjab, where thousands of traders travel seasonally for work and have long operated with minimal conflict.
Community leaders say they now fear that the growing normalization of hate violence is eroding a history of peaceful coexistence.
Rights advocates and social commentators say the assault reflects a wider trend of systematic harassment and profiling of Kashmiris and Muslims across India.
They argue that the environment has sharply deteriorated following the Red Fort blast last month, after which many Kashmiris reported increased police scrutiny, public hostility, and communal targeting.
The Ludhiana police say an investigation has been opened and promised legal action against those involved. However, rights groups caution that accountability remains rare in cases of hate violence and that impunity has emboldened perpetrators nationwide.
Analysts warn that such assaults demonstrate how ordinary disputes are rapidly turning into communal attacks in an increasingly polarized climate. They say the incident challenges India’s constitutional claims of secularism and raises urgent questions about the safety and dignity of minorities in the world’s largest democracy.
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