Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir: “Aap wapas Kashmir jao, aap yahan kaam nahi kar sakte.” (Go back to Kashmir. You cannot work in India, especially in Himachal.)
These words still haunt 45-year-old Munawar Shah, a Kashmiri shawl seller from the Kupwara district in north Kashmir.
Shah recalled a cold, crisp morning in January in Himachal Pradesh. He was trudging along a quiet road, his back hunched under bundles of intricately woven Kashmiri shawls and fabrics.
As he walked, hoping for a good sale for the day, Shah said he was stopped by two men on motorcycles who demanded that he show his entry card and Aadhaar ID.
Shah said his heart sank, but he resisted, telling the men that he would not show them his ID card and that he was not legally bound to do so.
“If you claim Kashmir is part of India, why can’t Kashmiris work in India,” Shah told them, he said, speaking over a phone call from Himachal Pradesh.
After a brief argument, the two men, who he said were affiliated with the Hindu right-wing, called “their senior” and knew Shah, and he asked them to leave him alone.
Shah did not wish to say who “their senior” was.
“Their senior assured them that I would no longer work there and they should let him go,” he said. “Had I not known their boss, I would have been beaten that day.”
Shah, a father of eight, has sold his wares in different states, but mainly Himachal Pradesh, for the past 30 years. But now, he said, treatment of Kashmiris had worsened, and there was a “deep hostility” that he could not comprehend.
“Being a Kashmiri and a Muslim makes us vulnerable,” Shah said. “We live in constant fear and don’t feel safe here any more.”
Kashmiris Under Siege
During winter, Kashmiri traders travel to different states to earn a livelihood, mainly by selling dry fruits and shawls.
This story was originally published in article-14.com. Read the full story here.
