By Zoya Mateen & Auqib Javeed
Shabir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Indian-administered Kashmir, has been selling pashmina shawls for more than 20 years.
The intricately embroidered featherweight scarves are a favourite with his customers in Mussoorie, a hill town in the northern state of Uttarakhand, where he works.
For his buyers, the shawls are a sign of luxury. For Dar, they are a metaphor for home; its traditional patterns layered with history and a mark of his Kashmiri identity.
But lately, the same identity feels like a curse.
On Sunday, Dar, along with another salesman, was publicly harassed and assaulted by members of a Hindu right-wing group, who were reportedly incensed by the killing of 26 people at a popular tourist spot in Kashmir last week. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack – a charge Islamabad denies.
A video of the assault shows the men thrashing and hurling abuses at Dar and his friend as they ransack their stall, located on a busy boulevard.
“They blamed us for the attack, told us to leave town and never show our faces again,” said Dar.
He says his goods, worth thousands of dollars, are still lying there. “But we are too scared to go back.”
As outrage over the assault spread, police on Wednesday arrested the three men but released them a few hours later after charging a fine and asking them to “apologise” to Dar and his colleague.
But Dar had already left by then, along with dozens of other Kashmiri shawl sellers, who, after living in Mussoorie for decades, say they no longer feel safe there.
This story was originally published in bbc.com. Read the full story here.
