'Will give them right treatment': Kashmiri Muslim students threatened to leave Dehradun amid Pahalgam attack

After the Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir claimed lives of 27 tourists, a video of Hindu Raksha Dal leader Lalit Sharma threatening Kashmiri Muslims to leave Uttarakhand capital Dehradun by Thursday has been circulating on social media.

In a video statement shared on Wednesday, Sharma allegedly said  “The incident in Pahalgam has hurt us… If we see any Kashmiri Muslim in the state after 10 am tomorrow, we will give them the right treatment. Tomorrow, all our workers will leave their homes to give this treatment to Kashmiri Muslims. We won’t wait for the government to take action… Kashmiri Muslims, leave by 10 am, else you will face action you can’t imagine.”

Immediately after the threat, the Uttarakhand police sprang to action and got 25 objectionable posts removed from social media. They also registered a first information report (FIR) against the Hindu right-wing leader on Thursday, for attempting to incite religious sentiments through inflammatory speeches.

Incident Number 4th.

Hindu Raksha Dal has issued an open threat to Muslim Kashmiri students studying in the state just now, vowing to 'pick them up one by one'. They've set a chilling ultimatum, demanding that all Kashmiri Muslim students vacate the state by 10 AM tommrrow.… pic.twitter.com/LKUUPJXO8b

The FIR was filed at Patel Nagar police station under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

In the wake of the threat, the state police promised safety of Kashmiri students in the state.

Uttarakhand additional director general of police (ADG), intelligence, AP Anshuman, said, “We have sounded alert and increased security measures. We will ensure the safety of all Kashmiri students in Uttarakhand.”

Kashmiri Muslim students in several parts of the state expressed apprehension for their life after the provocative video surfaced on social media. 

“We couldn’t sleep last night due to the threatening video being circulated on social media. Our parents kept calling us. We reached out to the college administration for safety, but we couldn’t get an assurance. We then decided to leave for Kashmir,” a 21-year-old pharmacy student of Alpine group of Institutes said to Hindustan Times.

Even after the Pulwama attack in February 2019 several Kashmiri students were beaten up, allegedly by right-wing outfits in Dehradun. In fact many supporters had tried to enter the premises of the colleges in the city.