Token Of Love: Women Lead With Gold, Children With Piggy Banks As Kashmiris Donate Crores To Iran

By Mir Farhat/Neeta Kolhatkar

Srinagar/New Delhi: Sibtain Ali, a young Kashmir resident, is among the thousands of people from the Valley who are donating money, gold and other valuable items to Iran as the country fights a war with America and Israel.

While the total value of the donations is yet to be tallied, preliminary inputs suggest it could run in hundreds of crores as people have come out in large numbers, many offering their life savings to help support the war-hit Iranians.

From Sunday, residents in Shia-populated areas of the Valley began donating cash, gold, copper utensils and even parcels of land.

In Srinagar, such donation drives were conducted in Zadibal, Hassanabad, Shalimar, Qamarwari, Lawaypora, and Bemina localities. Similar drives were carried out in Budgam, the district with the largest Shia population in Kashmir, Bandipora and Baramulla districts.

"Iran is fighting the war alone, and its leaders have made ultimate sacrifices. The people there are facing difficulties in daily life. So, we in Kashmir are donating to support them," Ali told ETV Bharat in Zadibal, a Shia-dominated area in Srinagar city.

People collect donations at a religious centre to provide aid for war-hit victims of the Iran crisis, in Budgam district, Jammu and Kashmir, Monday, March 23, 2026. (PTI)

The zeal to help Iran, an ideological and spiritual centre of the Shia sect, has been such that even children have come out with their piggy banks to contribute to the ongoing drive.

Women, in particular, contributed generously by donating gold jewellery, copper utensils, and other household items. Some families offered livestock. A woman donated gold kept as a memento of her husband, who died 28 years ago.

The Iranian Embassy in New Delhi termed the gesture the greatest source of comfort for the people of Iran.

"A respected sister from Kashmir donated the gold kept as a memento of her husband who passed away 28 years ago with a heart full of love and solidarity for the people of Iran. Your tears and pure emotions are the greatest source of comfort for the people of Iran and will never be forgotten. Thank you Kashmir. Thank you India," the Iranian Embassy said on X.

In Zadibal, a Shia-populated locality, volunteers are collecting donations in the largest Imam Bargah of the city. Dozens of similar groups of volunteers have put up stalls at Imam Bargahs in other areas of the Valley to collect donations.

A view at Zadibal Imam Bargah (ETV Bharat)

Syed Ghazanfar Rizvi, the lead preacher of the Zadibal Imam Bargah, told ETV Bharat that volunteers with the support of management committees are keeping a record of all the donations that will be sent to the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi.

"Islam teaches us to support the oppressed, irrespective of the religion or cast of the oppressed. Wherever there are the oppressed, we have to support them,” Rizvi said.

Donors recollect the tragedies of the people in Iran during the ongoing Iran war. Dr Rouf, another donor, told ETV Bharat that the donations are a token of love for the people of Iran. "These donations are small in comparison to the magnitude of the loss in Iran due to the war, but it conveys our love, humanity,” he said.

The donation drive comes three weeks after Shias in the Valley held massive protests for a week in support of Iran and against the assassination of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a joint US-Israel attack on February 28. The protest continued for a week before the authorities in the Valley imposed curbs and suspended high-speed internet and prepaid mobile services.

Not just common people, Shia legislators from both ruling and opposition political parties have also chipped in with their support.

Peoples Democratic Party legislator Aga Syed Muntazir told ETV Bharat that he has donated one month's salary for Iran. While reports put the total number of donations from the last two days in Kashmir at Rs 500 crore, Muntazir said the exact figures are not available yet, as, besides cash, there is a huge collection of gold, copper and other items which need to be enumerated first to come to an exact figure.

Both Rizvi and Muntazir said the donations collected in Kashmir will be sent to the Iranian embassy in its account or will be handed over to it directly by the Shia leaders.

In New Delhi, donors reached the Iranian embassy on Monday after the account number shared by the Iranian Embassy earlier this month reached its collection limit.

Ghulam Hassan, a Kashmiri businessman in Delhi, was among those who visited the embassy. "We have been told by the Embassy officials to wait for a few days before they open another account and share the details with us,” Hasan told ETV Bharat.

An official from the Iranian Embassy urged the Kashmiri donors to wait for a day or two before they are given an account number for the specific purpose of donation. He said there are Reserve Bank of India rules for remitting for a specific purpose, including donations.

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