MHA advisory asks states to ensure safety of Kashmiris

New Delhi, Mar 08: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through an advisory issued Thursday to the States and Union Territories asked them to reinforce the existing arrangements to ensure safety and security of persons belonging to Jammu and Kashmir residing in their respective jurisdictions.

Referring to its earlier advisory issued on 16 February in view of some students and residents of J&K experiencing intimidation and harassment, MHA urged state/UT police authorities to take strict action against the offenders as per law.

The new advisory has been issued in the wake of attack on two dry fruit vendors from Kashmir on a busy road in Lucknow.

A group of men belonging to a fringe right-wing group had on Wednesday attacked two dry fruit vendors from Kashmir. One of the accused men shared a video of the assault on social media, sparking widespread outrage. The men who assaulted the traders can be heard in the videos saying they did so as they were from Kashmir.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also reacted to the incident. He cited the case of the attack to illustrate a point: "It is crucial to maintain an atmosphere of unity".

Separatists amalgam, Joint Resistance Leadership, comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, in a joint statement terming the attacks on Kashmiris "condemnable".