Calls To Review Pro-Palestine Protest Cases Grow In Kashmir

A cleric and several residents from Sonpah village in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district are among those who have been questioned or named in FIRs after pro-Palestine protests last year

Police have alleged violations of law and order, including the display of Hezbollah flags during processions, and registered cases, including under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The Delhi Declaration, called for a “sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine.”

On the last Friday of Ramadhan last year, in Sonpah village in Central Kashmir’s Budgam, Syed Mohammad Hussaini, 59, a local cleric, led congregational prayers at the main mosque before returning home. Days later, he was questioned by the police about his alleged role in protests organised in the area in support of Palestine.

Hussaini claims he had no role in the demonstrations. “I led the prayers and went straight home,” he says, adding that despite this, he was questioned by the police as part of the investigation. Another resident of the village, Mohd Sadiq Bhat, also claimed innocence. He says he was shocked to find himself named in an FIR when he visited the police station last year to assist a local youth whom he believed might be booked for participating in a peaceful protest in support of Palestine.

Police have booked scores of youth for taking part in protests allegedly in favour of Palestine in Kashmir. However, recently, the foreign ministers of India and the 22-member League of Arab States adopted the Delhi Declaration, calling for a “sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine.”

In the wake of the declaration, those who have been booked or whose names appear on police lists have sought that the cases are dropped. Several political leaders have questioned the need for such police action when India has, in diplomatic forums, in the past been sympathetic to the Palestinian issue.

Both in 2025 and 2024, the Jammu and Kashmir Police registered cases under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, after pro-Palestine and pro-Hezbollah slogans were allegedly raised during protests in different parts of Kashmir. Police cited concerns that such slogans and displays of flags could incite unrest and disturb public order, and appealed to people to refrain from activities that could disrupt peace.

People’s Democratic Party MLA from Budgam, Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi, has sought the withdrawal of FIRs lodged against youth across Jammu and Kashmir over expressions of solidarity with Palestine. He has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to  intervene in what he described as “cases involving peaceful youth activism.”

“We have sought the withdrawal of these cases in the wake of the Delhi Declaration that lends support to the Palestinian cause. There are around 100 people whom I have managed to get released on bail who are facing cases,” he said.

Former MLA Abid Hussain Ansari alleges protests were criminalised, even when people in “Palestine have faced persecution. “People are dying in Palestine, and when people in Kashmir protest against it, they are told to remain silent,” he says.

Senior Congress leader Asgar Ali Karbalai, however, says pro-Palestine protests have long been a routine feature not only in Kashmir but also in the Kargil district of the Ladakh Union Territory.

Last year, when protests were held in Sonpah village, police said banners bearing Hezbollah flags were displayed during the procession, which coincided with Youm-e-Quds. Every year, Kashmir witnesses demonstrations on Al-Quds Day—Arabic for Jerusalem—an annual pro-Palestinian observance held on the last Friday of Ramadhan that has in the past drawn participation across the region.

Police said that residents of Sonpah attempted to disrupt law and order by raising “objectionable slogans” and by obstructing the free movement of the general public.

Local residents, however, say the protests were peaceful and have been held in previous years as well. “A protest march was taken out from the Sonpah mosque to the main public square, and it was peaceful,” says a local resident. Residents say that after prayers concluded, a group of people marched from the mosque to a nearby public square, following which, at least 12 young men from the village were named in FIRs in connection with the incident.