Rights group blames J&K Police for backlash against Kashmiris after Pahalgam attack

The Forum for Human Rights in J&K, an independent body co-chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur and former Kashmir interlocutor Radha Kumar, on Monday (August 4, 2025) blamed the Jammu & Kashmir Police’s “hasty and incorrect information for triggering hate speech and hateful actions against Kashmiris” after the Pahalgam terror attack.

Releasing its annual report on human rights on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the abrogation of special provisions of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir, the forum noted that the police information that two of the terrorists were Kashmiris caused a backlash.

“It also created a permissive environment for hate speech and actions, as evidenced by trolling, arrests and illegal demolitions. By the time the NIA (National Investigation Agency) clarified the terrorists were all Pakistani, one month later, considerable damage had been done,” the report, J&K-Statehood for Human Rights, reads.

The report said that mob hate spread to the extent that even the Foreign Secretary, Army and Air Force officers were trolled for a ceasefire.

The forum alleged that there was no preventive action to stop the backlash. “Though a backlash against Kashmiris and Muslims was widely anticipated, the Union Home Ministry did nothing to prevent it. By contrast, in 2010, the Union Home Ministry had issued an advisory to all police to act against harassment. Fortunately, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had his ministers rush to other states to appeal to their chief ministers to protect Kashmiri residents, after which the backlash dwindled,” it said.

The forum highlighted security lapse in preventing the Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 civilians dead. “The least that could have been done, issuing a general advisory warning residents and tourists in Jammu and Kashmir of a risk to crowded or tourist areas, was not done either,” it said.

It pointed out the plight of border residents during ‘Operation Sindoor’. “Despite taking two weeks to respond militarily, little was done to evacuate civilians from the border areas, who were in any case facing incessant firing across the Line of Control from Pakistani troops (probably to facilitate the escape of the terrorists and infiltration by others),” the report said.

The report said that the very large number of people were brought in for questioning – reportedly 2,800 – and the slapping of PSA and UAPA charges on over 100, “were seen as collective punishment of the people for lapses of the Union Home Ministry and Lieutenant-Governor’s administration”.

The report claimed “marginalization of the elected administration through imposition of the new Transaction of Business Rules issued shortly before the assembly election, which retained most powers in the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor, including over civil servants, the police, the Attorney-General and prosecutorial services.

“These rules nullify the rights of the people to representative and accountable governance,” it added.