The Misery of Muslims and Nomads in Uttarakhand

By Joseph Maliakan

The Muslims and the nomads in the Himalayan state of Uttarkhand which for decades enjoyed absolute peace and communal harmoney has been witnessing indescribable persecution at the hands of both the state and fundamentalist Hindutwa groups for the last four years.

While the Muslims have been subjected to physical attacks, destruction of properties and even livelihoods the nomads have been deprived of their land and forest rights in the guise of protection of environment and forests, according to a report prepared by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights.

The report released on Wenesday 21 January 2026 documents communal incidents in different parts of Uttarkhand from early 2021 to late 2025. It contains testimonies of people who survived the violent attacks in towns and cities where they  lived harmoniously all their lives but were told to leave only because they were Muslims. The report shows how a Van Gujjar herder , a shopkeeper from Nanda Ghat , a migrant worker and a small shopkeeper from Haldwani discovered that their very existence is contested under the present rule in the state.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state has enacted three new Acts all with singular aim of suppressing the social , economic , educational and religious rights of the minorities especially the Muslims,  the Hindutwa outfits in the state have unleashed all kinds of violence against the Muslims in the name of ‘ Love Jihad ‘, ‘ Land Jihad ‘ , and ‘ Business Jihad ‘

The three new laws are the Uniform Civil Code , 2024, Freedom.of Religion and Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion Act 2024 and the Minority Educational Institute Bill 2025.The UCC Act overrides minority personnel laws on marriage, divorse, inheritance and adoption which will have adverse cultural impact on minorities. To further control private lives of individuals the UCC Amendment Bill 2025 prescribe very harsh penalties for unregistered live in relationships, up to seven years imprisonment.

The Freedom of Religion and Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion ( Amendment ) Act 2025 prescribes life term punishment for anyone convicted of unlawful conversions, definition of allurement has been expanded further, and penalties for false promise of marriage has been increased.

The Uttarkand Minority Educational Institute Bill 2025 dissolves the Muslim controlled Madrasa Education Board where Muslims held 9 out of 13 places and replaces with a government body , Uttarkhand State Authority for Minority Education ( USAME ) , where Muslims hold one of the 12 seats. This transfers all control over Islamic curriculam,  teacher qualification , and school recognition from Muslim Educators to the Hindu majority government. The Bill is presented as educational reform , but in actual practice it has become a mechanism for state control of Muslim  religious education in clear violation of Article 30 (1 ) of the Indian Constitution.

Hindutwa right-wing groups in Uttarkhand have been perpetuating a culture of hate and intolerance against Muslims , creating an  environment of fear .Incidents communal violence and economic boycott of Muslims became common with Muslims facing targetted violence leading to loss of livelyhoods.

This religious persecution of Muslims became evident in 2021.  At the Haridwar Dharm Sansad , a three day Hindutva conclave held in December 2021 several leading politicians and Hindu religious leaders made hate speeches and called for violence against the Muslim minority. Some even exhorted the crowd to even exterminate the Muslims and establish a Hindu Rashtra.

In 2023 Uttarkhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami directed officials to identify and demolish illegal structures including religious structures , obviously Muslim religious structures , built on government land. The move was interpreted by right-wing Hindutva groups to describe the construction of mosques and other religious structures by Muslims as illegal. In May 2024 Chief Minister Dhami claimed that the state had recovered 5000 acres of government land from land jihad.

The, Unified Waqf  Management , Empowerment , Efficiency and Development  UMMEED portal digitization deadline of June 2025 created a legal trap specially designed to target Muslim religious properties in Uttarakhand . The government established a six month deadline for all Waqf properties , Islamic endowments including mosques, darghas , shrines and prayer halls to register on an online portal or face automatic classification as disputed or illegal.

Thesystem was deliberately structured to fail. The portal itself was fundamentally brocken crashing repeatedly and taking 10 to 15 minutes per propertyentry. The deadline required documentation that centuries old mosques simply did not have. Many of these properties have ub in bystanding for 200years or longer without any legal papers.

Consequently in Uttarkhand 75 per cent of Waqf properties remained unregistered by the December deadline , not because they were disputed orillegally built, but because the system made registration impossible for ordinary communities without technical expertise , access to historial documents or legal advice. When the deadline got over many legitimate functioning mosques , and darghas were automatically classified as disputed making them targets for illegal demolition.

Once properties were labelled disputed and therefore illegal the Uttarkhand government launched a demolition drive . And between June 2025 and November 2025 over 300 Muslim shrines and darghas were demolished. While a few were illegal most were functiong for decades.