Targeted terror attack on Hindus in Pahalgam downplayed, Muslim MLA shifts blame away from Islamic terrorists
Dhing, Assam, India 
23 April, 2025
Case Summary
In a horrific act of terror in the Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, Islamic terrorists systematically identified and targeted Hindu victims. The assailants demanded names and religious identities, inspected ID cards, coerced tourists to recite the Kalma, and even forcibly pulled down their pants to check for circumcision—all to single out non-Muslims. Once identified, the Hindus were shot at point-blank range. The attack, carried out by operatives of The Resistance Force, a proxy of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed the lives of 24 Hindus and left 16 others critically injured. Following this incident, some Muslims publicly celebrated the Hindu massacre. One such incident involved AIUDF legislator Aminul Islam. During the campaign, Islam expressed the view that the central government had a hand in both the 2018 Pulwama attack and the recent violence in Pahalgam. He referred to the previous attack, which led to the deaths of over 40 BSF personnel, suggesting it was used to influence the 2019 general elections. He also stated that no investigation had been pursued despite his earlier appeals and drew parallels between the two attacks, indicating a pattern in the government's response. Islam further stated that the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam incident had acted without confirming the identities of their victims, suggesting that the assailants took advantage of poor visibility. Contrary to Aminul's claims, the attack occurred in daylight. The Islamic terrorists systematically checked identification cards, asked tourists to recite Kalma and pulled down pants to verify religion by checking for circumcision, executing those identified as Hindus point-blank in Baisaran Valley. Assam Police arrested Aminul Islam.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case is categorised under the primary category- Hate Speech against Hindus. Under that, the relevant sub-category is- Denial or mocking of genocide/large-scale persecution. Denial or mocking of genocide/large-scale persecution/ethnic cleansing refers to the act of denying or minimizing the fact of the ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus. This often involves denying the scale, mechanisms, religious intent, or even the occurrence of the ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus. Hate speech of this kind involves the dissemination of falsehoods that deny or distort established historical facts or mock the suffering of Hindus by saying that they deserved the persecution, motivated by Hinduphobia. Denying such atrocities is not only about the denial of facts or rewriting/revising history, but it also delegitimises the religiously motivated persecution of Hindus, the religious hate/motivation/animosity that led to the persecution, and dehumanises Hindus as a religious group. Such denial of ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus not only denies the suffering but also paves the way for future/present atrocities and hate speech, inciting prejudice and violence against Hindus. It also provides a justification for violence by delinking religious animosity from religiously motivated crimes committed against Hindus. Since such denial and/or mocking of genocide/ethnic cleansing/atrocities motivated by religious animosity leads to present and future ramifications of creating more hate speech, violence, dehumanisation and delegitimisation, it would be considered hate speech under this category. The other sub-category relevant is- Anti Hindu subversion and prejudice, and within it, the tertiary category selected is- Anti-Hindu Fake News or Downplaying. Hate speech is defined as any speech, gesture, conduct, writing, or display that is prejudicial against a specific individual and/or group of people, which is leading to or may lead to violence, prejudicial action or hate against that individual and/or group. Media plays a specific and overarching reach in perpetuating prejudicial attitudes towards a community owing to unfair, untrue coverage and/or misrepresentation/misinterpretation, selective coverage and/or omission of facts of/pertaining to issues affecting a specific religious group. This type of bias can dehumanise the victim group, making it easier for others to justify harmful actions against them, which aligns with the objectives of hate speech laws aimed at preventing such harm. It is often observed that the media takes a prejudicial stand against the Hindu community driven by their need to shield the aggressor community which happens to be a numeric minority, however, is the one perpetrating violence against Hindus. For example, the media is often quick to contextualise religiously motivated crimes against Hindus, omit or misrepresent facts that point towards religiously motivated hate crimes, justify and/or downplay religiously motivated hate crimes or simply present fake news to stereotype Hindus. Such media bias leads to the denial of persecution and is often used to dehumanise Hindus, leading to justification for violence against them. For example, the media covered several fake allegations of Hindus targeting Muslims and forcing them to chant Jai Shree Ram. Most of these cases were proved false and fabricated after police investigation. These fake news reports were subsequently never retracted or clarified. Such fake news led to the justification of violence and dehumanisation of Hindus based on the argument that since Hindus targeted Muslims and forced them to chant Jai Shree Ram, the dehumanisation of Hindus and violence against them was par for the course and merely a retaliation. Such media bias leads to prejudicial portrayal of Hindus and offers a justification for violence against them and therefore, is considered hate speech under this category. This case qualifies as a hate crime as it involves the denial and distortion of facts surrounding a terror attack that specifically targeted Hindus. By dismissing the religious motive behind the Pahalgam attack, in which survivors confirmed that the Islamic terrorists identified the victims’ religion before killing them, the remark of the Muslim MLA erases the targeted nature of the violence. This amounts to the denial of religious persecution and serves to delegitimise the suffering of the Hindu victims. Such remarks create a false narrative that hides the religious motive behind the violence and wrongly blames the state. This kind of statement can encourage more such religiously motivated attacks in the future. Sharing such views in public or political spaces fuels dangerous stereotypes, which is why it qualifies as a hate crime and warrants inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
