Traders want Kashmiris out of Mussoorie
DEHRADUN: Mussoorie traders want Kashmiri shopkeepers to leave the hill town after a group of Muslim youths took out a procession and shouted anti-India slogans a day after Pakistan won the Champions Trophy final on June 18.
“Residents and the Mussoorie Traders Association have decided not to rent their shops to Kashmiri traders from February 2018 as their presence may result in increasing anti-national and anti-social activities,” said Manshant, a shop owner and an association member.
Some residents and the traders’ association have alleged that anti-India activities have increased in the past one year with the rising number of Kashmiri shopkeepers in the town.
Kashmiri shopkeepers have denied that they or their staff are involved in anti-national activities. “We are Indians like you or anyone else. We came here to do business as the situation in Kashmir in well known to everyone,” said Altaf, a woolen clothes merchant from Kupwara.
“Why should we be singled out when none of the Kashmiri youth in Mussoorie was involved in anti-India sloganeering the other day (after Pakistan’s win)?” he asked. “My brother and uncle are ex-army personnel. We are ready to face punishment as per law of the land if found guilty, but those who shouted anti-national slogans were from Saharanpur (in UP).” The ’ association claimed that police arrested only three youths though 11 were involved in anti-India sloganeering.
Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti said, “There was no complaint or information as to involvement of more than three arrested youths, two of whom have been let off by the Juvenile Justice Board and sent back to their home town with parents.”
Kashmiri traders have nearly 20 shops in Mussoorie; most of the shops have come up in the past 3-4 years -- six in the last one year. Association members claimed that a few Kashmiri shopkeepers came to Mussoorie after they were forced to leave Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
“Kashmiri traders are a security threat to the town. They have dampened the peaceful atmosphere of Mussoorie,” said association president Rajat Agarwal.