Applause and abuse for Sikhs supporting Kashmiris

Sikhs who have been protecting Muslims in Kashmir following last week’s terror attack have received international praise, but also abuse, for their humanitarian efforts.

A suicide bombing last Thursday killed 40 Indian soldiers in Pulwama, near Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir. Jaish-e-Mohammad, a militant group from Pakistan, claimed responsibility for it.

Since then, mobs have been roaming Kashmir, looking to punish ordinary Kashmiris in revenge for the attack.

Sikhs in Kashmir – nicknamed the Jammu Sardars – rode motorbikes into Gujjar Nagar to rescue three Kashmiris from a mob who were setting cars with Kashmir registrations on fire. The Sikhs took them to a local gurdwara, where the trio were served langar before being escorted out of the city towards Srinagar. One of them said ‘Allah and our Sikh brothers [saved us]’.

Anti-Kashmiri sentiment has spread across the country, inciting anger from Hindu nationalists. One hotel in Agra put up a sign saying: ‘Kashmiris are not allowed hare [sic] for stay’ next to another sign declaring ‘We are Indian’.

Sikhs and Punjabis have been providing protecting to Kashmiri students in Punjab, where it is thought that there are roughly 4,000 Kashmiri students. Sikhs guarded colleges containing Kashmiri students overnight following widespread reports of mob attacks and harassment.

Much of the Sikh support for Kashmiris has come from Khalsa Aid International – an international humanitarian organisation well known for providing aid and disaster relief without discrimination.

Khalsa Aid safely evacuated Kashmiri students in Punjab, and funded over 20 buses to get the students home safely. In a video posted on Twitter, some Kashmiri students spoke from Jammu airport, saying that they had only reached there safely because of Khalsa Aid. The director of Khalsa Aid India, Amarpreet Singh said in a typically humble manner: ‘There are so many Punjabis to make sure every Kashmiri is safe here.’

This is not the first time that Khalsa Aid have been providing help in Kashmir – the charity provided aid relief to locals during flooding there in 2014.

However, the charity has faced a backlash online from extreme Indian nationalists who are angry at the help and support Khalsa Aid has been providing to Kashmiris.

Much of the abuse has been directed at the organisation’s founder and CEO Ravi Singh, who is frequently abused online for his vocal campaigning against human rights atrocities committed by the Indian state, notably the Sikh Genocide in 1984.

The social media abuse does not phase Singh who describes the abusive tweets sent to him as ‘an educational opportunity… a chance to show that people sending this abuse cannot handle facts.’

As Singh points out online, many of those sending abusive messages do so from anonymous social media accounts. He frequently challenges those sending such messages to ‘come and comment with your read ID if you want a debate.’

As news of the Sikh support has spread across the globe, messages of thanks and support having been pouring in from the Kashmiri diaspora. One in the US has offered Sikhs a free stay at his hotels for the next month. Others have offered everything from free legal services and health consultations to discounts on snow biking.

Khalsa Aid’s work supporting the Kashmiris of India continues. For more information, follow the charity on Facebook or @Khalsa_Aid on Twitter.