Kashmiri activist, Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur, was attacked by three men shouting anti-Muslim slurs after lecturing at a London event on the Indian-occupation of Kashmir.
The assault took place on the evening of August 9 in Euston, London, as Thakur was trying to enter his car.
According to Thakur, three men of Indian decent, punched and kicked him while shouting abuse in Hindi including Islamophobic slurs such as “Kashmiri terrorist” or “Muslim terrorist.”
Despite successfully beating back all of the assailants, Mr Thakur sustained some injuries including some fractured ribs and bruising during the assault.
In a statement sent to 5Pillars, Mr Thakur explained how the vile attack unfolded.
“After delivering a lecture on Kashmir, Resistance and Resilience on Friday August 9th, I walked back to my car in Euston, a stone throw away form the venue. I don’t know if I was followed or the perpetrators were waiting next to my car, but three Indian men were present who I first didn’t notice. As I was entering my car, one attempted to hit my head, which brushed me. I turned to see someone attempting another punch which I blocked. Confused, I shouted out asking who they were and what they wanted.
In response they began attempting to fight and kick me. I sustained a fractured rib and in self defence I must have broken one attackers nose, and broken another ones jaw. Whilst the scuffle was taking place they called me a muslim terrorist, a Kashmiri terrorist, long live india, all in the hindi language, among other choice phrases.”
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According to Mr Thakur, the attack felt pre-planned and organised. With one of the group attempting to film the ordeal in order to “embarrass” him later.
“One of the culprits I saw was using his phone to record the incident, I assume to embarrass me later by releasing footage of me being beaten up. I doubt they’ll release it, given that they were humiliated and ran away severely injured.”
Mr Thakur is a well-known and respected Kahsmiri activist who has a reputation for outspoken criticism of the Indian occupation of Jammu & Kashmir.
Thakur currently serves as the President of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM) and Director of The Justice Foundation: Kashmir Institute of International Affairs.
Mr Thakur told 5Pillars that he believes the attackers were Hindutva thugs, inspired to assault him because of his opposition to India’s occupation.
India’s Kashmir occupation
India has control of about half the area of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which comprises Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, while Pakistan controls a third of the region, divided into two provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
While both India and Pakistan lay claim to the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir, a significant global movement of Kashmiris calling for an independent nation state also exists.
Five years ago, India scrapped the special status of Indian-administered Kashmir, New Delhi’s most far-reaching move against the disputed region in seven decades.
Protests against this move were met with violence by Indian forces. A complete lockdown was enforced and a blackout of information from the area ensued.
Eye-witnesses and human rights groups have complained rigorously of human rights abuses carried being out by Indian forces in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region.
Since the lockdown was brought into effect, no foreign journalist has been allowed by the Indian government to report from the new union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to a 6 September 2019 report by the Indian government, nearly 4,000 people have been arrested in the disputed region.
India targets dissidents abroad
It has been previously reported that India may be targeting dissident voices abroad using spies and Indian intelligence agencies.
In November, U.S. authorities said an Indian government official had directed an unsuccessful plot to murder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist and dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.
As the alleged plot in the U.S. to kill Pannun was unfolding, another Sikh separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia province, Canada, on June 18, 2023.
India was accused publicly by Washington and Ottawa of involvement in the murder and assassination plot of the Sikh figures.
In addition, an article released by The Guardian in April 2024, claims that India may be responsible for up to 20 killings inside Pakistan since 2020.
Raising further speculation that India’s intelligence agencies might be ratcheting up attacks on foreign targets abroad over the past few years.
Speaking to 5Pillars, Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur said he was not affraid to continue speaking out against Hindutva extremism or India’s oppressive actions.
“We’ve seen assassinations in Canada by India and attempts in the U.S., riots initiated by radical Hindus, Indian spies caught in Germany and Qatar, which indicates India under Modi’s fascist regime has become emboldened and brazen in their attempts to silence dissidents through transnational repression.
Kashmir has been at the forefront of defending the Muslim identity against radical hindu terror, with very little attention given to the plight of the people, or of Indias war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, genocide and settler colonisation for the purpose of demographic change. Whatever the consequences, we will continue to resist at every level.”
