Protest in Kashmir against killing of Iranian Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israel strikes. Photo: PTI
Protests across India over killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader: ‘A thousand Khameneis will rise’
From Srinagar streets to mosques in Delhi, Lucknow, India’s Shia community and political leaders condemn Khamenei's killing, warning of a world without international law
Hundreds of Kashmiri Shia Muslims poured onto the streets of Srinagar on Sunday (March 1) morning, hours after the Iranian state media confirmed that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in coordinated US-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran.
Demonstrations were also reported in Sonawari, Bandipora, and Baramulla, where men and women marched peacefully carrying portraits of Khamenei, raising black flags, and leading traditional lamentation processions known as Nauha.
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In Lucknow, protesters chanted slogans against the US and Israel. "They kept deceiving with talks and threatened about war, but our leader did not get afraid and did not bow," one demonstrator told ANI. "A thousand Khameneis will rise. Trump cannot win easily."
India's Shia community leader Syed Samar Kazmi said: "He was killed only because he raised his voice for the killings in Palestine while the world was silent."
'Try America in the World Court'
All India Imam Association President Sajid Rashidi demanded international accountability: "America has killed Iran's Supreme Commander Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They should be tried in the World Court and convicted. America does whatever it wants, whenever it wants."
In Delhi, the Imam of Shia Jama Masjid, Maulana Mohd Ali Mohsin Taqvi, warned of a dangerous new precedent. "Every person in favour of justice and sovereignty of a country is deeply saddened today. The world is about to witness worse days. The President of any country can be abducted, any country's leadership can be killed with bombs. It was Iran today, tomorrow it may be Türkiye, Saudi Arabia."
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Taqvi described Khamenei as "a simple man and a major scholar of the Islamic world who never bowed in front of the oppressors", and announced a condolence gathering at the mosque.
The Iranian Embassy in New Delhi lowered its flag to half-mast. The J&K Shia Association stated: "We mourn the martyrdom of the family members of Imam Khamenei. Our prayers are with the Leader and the people of Iran."
Former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Kashmir's chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also condemned the strikes.
Iran strikes and what followed
On February 28 and March 1, the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Tehran in what they called a preemptive attack — Operation Epic Fury and Operation Lion's Roar respectively.
Khamenei was killed at his workplace in the early hours of Sunday, and this was confirmed by Iran's Tasnim News Agency and state television.
Iran declared 40 days of national mourning and launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes, targeting 27 American military sites according to the IRGC.
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Trump, posting on Truth Social before Iranian media confirmed the death, called Khamenei "one of the most evil people in History." Inside Iran, scenes of both mourning and street celebration were reported. The question of succession — and whether the clerical establishment or the Revolutionary Guard shapes what comes next — remains unresolved.
(With agency inputs)