Denouncing Pahalgam Attack and Backlash Against Kashmiris
April 25th, 2025
Justice For All Canada condemns the recent attack in Pahalgam, located in the internationally disputed region of Indian-administered Kashmir, which resulted in the tragic loss of civilian lives. We equally denounce the brutal crackdown by Indian security forces in its aftermath, including the mass detention of over fifteen hundreds Kashmiri civilians.
This violent cycle is a consequence of a decades-long military occupation in defiance of the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination as affirmed by several UN resolutions since 1948.
In 2019, the Indian government escalated this occupation by abrogating Article 370, stripping Kashmir of its limited autonomy. Since then, it has aggressively pushed to alter the region’s demographic makeup (distributing millions of domiciles to non-Kashmiris) and suppress its indigenous identity through settler-colonial policies. These actions violate international legal norms and trample on the aspirations of the Kashmiri population.
Indian-administered Kashmir remains the most heavily militarized region in the world, with over half a million troops deployed across the Himalayan valley. Since the late 1980s, a popular insurgency has taken root in response to India’s prolonged military occupation and systemic repression. In turn, Indian forces have waged a brutal counterinsurgency campaign marked by over 100,000 extrajudicial killings, the enforced disappearance of approximately 70,000 people, and the use of sexual violence—including the rape of hundreds of women—as a weapon of war and collective punishment.
We are gravely concerned about the Indian military's crackdown and the surge in hate speech and incitement to violence against Kashmiris and Indian Muslims by prominent Hindutva influencers and mainstream Indian media, which makes Kashmiris' lives more vulnerable to state repression.
The safety of thousands of Kashmiri students across India is at grave risk. By equating Kashmiris with terrorism, these narratives strip the community of individuality and agency, ignoring their political and social grievances. This aligns with historical patterns where Kashmiris have been labeled as "terrorists" to justify militarization and human rights violations.
Justice For All calls on the Indian government to address the root causes of the conflict and respect UN resolutions, rather than relying on coercion, repression and the use of military force.
"The path to lasting peace lies in the recognition and respect for the Kashmiri people’s fundamental and inalienable right to determine their own political future," says Taha Ghayyur, Executive Director of Justice For All Canada.
We urge the Canadian government and Global Affairs Canada to uphold international law by supporting the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination and by exerting diplomatic pressure on India to implement the United Nations Security Council resolutions mandating a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.
Justice For All Canada condemns the recent attack in Pahalgam, located in the internationally disputed region of Indian-administered Kashmir, which resulted in the tragic loss of civilian lives. We equally denounce the brutal crackdown by Indian security forces in its aftermath, including the mass detention of over fifteen hundreds Kashmiri civilians.
This violent cycle is a consequence of a decades-long military occupation in defiance of the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination as affirmed by several UN resolutions since 1948.
In 2019, the Indian government escalated this occupation by abrogating Article 370, stripping Kashmir of its limited autonomy. Since then, it has aggressively pushed to alter the region’s demographic makeup (distributing millions of domiciles to non-Kashmiris) and suppress its indigenous identity through settler-colonial policies. These actions violate international legal norms and trample on the aspirations of the Kashmiri population.
Indian-administered Kashmir remains the most heavily militarized region in the world, with over half a million troops deployed across the Himalayan valley. Since the late 1980s, a popular insurgency has taken root in response to India’s prolonged military occupation and systemic repression. In turn, Indian forces have waged a brutal counterinsurgency campaign marked by over 100,000 extrajudicial killings, the enforced disappearance of approximately 70,000 people, and the use of sexual violence—including the rape of hundreds of women—as a weapon of war and collective punishment.
We are gravely concerned about the Indian military's crackdown and the surge in hate speech and incitement to violence against Kashmiris and Indian Muslims by prominent Hindutva influencers and mainstream Indian media, which makes Kashmiris' lives more vulnerable to state repression.
The safety of thousands of Kashmiri students across India is at grave risk. By equating Kashmiris with terrorism, these narratives strip the community of individuality and agency, ignoring their political and social grievances. This aligns with historical patterns where Kashmiris have been labeled as "terrorists" to justify militarization and human rights violations.
Justice For All calls on the Indian government to address the root causes of the conflict and respect UN resolutions, rather than relying on coercion, repression and the use of military force.
"The path to lasting peace lies in the recognition and respect for the Kashmiri people’s fundamental and inalienable right to determine their own political future," says Taha Ghayyur, Executive Director of Justice For All Canada.
We urge the Canadian government and Global Affairs Canada to uphold international law by supporting the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination and by exerting diplomatic pressure on India to implement the United Nations Security Council resolutions mandating a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.