Kashmiri students say they have been threatened in India after Pahalgam attack

Students from Indian administered Kashmir have reported harassment and intimidation in India after a gruesome attack in the Himalayan region killed more than two dozen Indian men, a student association said on Thursday.

Gunmen killed 26 men -- all Indian except one Nepali -- in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam on Tuesday, the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested Muslim-majority territory since 2000.

The killings have shocked the world's most populous country and enraged Hindu nationalist groups.

Kashmiri students in states including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh were allegedly asked to leave their rented apartments or university hostels on Wednesday, Jammu and Kashmir Students Association convenor Nasir Khuehami said.

Students at a university in Himachal Pradesh were harassed and physically attacked after hostel doors were broken, Khuehami said.

The students were allegedly called "terrorists", he said.

"This is not just a security issue," he said. "It is a deliberate and targeted campaign of hate and vilification against students from a particular region and identity."

In Uttarakhand's capital city Dehradun, around 20 students fled to the airport on Wednesday following warnings from Hindu Raksha Dal, a fringe right-wing group.

The students said that the group threatened Kashmiri Muslim students with dire consequences if they did not leave town immediately.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he was in touch with state governments where students reported feeling unsafe, asking them to "take extra care".

Kashmir's former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also appealed to India's Interior Minister Amit Shah to "intervene in the wake of certain elements openly threatening" traders and students.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in the Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

In August 2019, India scrapped the long-standing semi-autonomous status of the disputed valley, a controversial move that prompted Islamabad to downgrade its diplomatic mission and halt trade with New Delhi. Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting for independence.

Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.

Indian security forces have launched a vast manhunt in Kashmir for the attackers, with large numbers of people detained in the operation.

India accused Islamabad on Wednesday of supporting "cross-border terrorism" and downgraded ties with its neighbor with a raft of diplomatic measures.

Pakistan has denied any role in the Pahalgam attack.