Srinagar, Jan. 31 -- The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) on Saturday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking his urgent intervention over what it described as a "disturbing and sustained pattern of identity-based harassment and violence" against Kashmiri traders, shawl sellers, labourers and students across several North Indian states, following the brutal assault on an 18-year-old Kashmiri youth in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

In a letter to the Home Minister, the Association's National Convenor Nasir Khuehami said the latest incident occurred in the Vikas Nagar area of Dehradun, where the teenager, along with his family, was selling shawls to earn a livelihood during the harsh winter months. According to the association...