The Government of India on Saturday asked all the states to ensure safety and security of the students and people from Jammu and Kashmir living in their areas in the wake of threats to them in some parts of India, officials said.
The advisory came hours after Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured an all party meeting of doing the needful for the protection of the Kashmiri students and people who were allegedly threatened after the attack in Pulwama in which 49 CRPF personnel were killed.
A Home Ministry official said there have been some reports of students and other residents of Jammu and Kashmir experiencing threats and intimidation.
“Therefore, the Home Ministry today issued an advisory to all states/UTs to take necessary measures to ensure their safety and security,” the official said.
Some Kashmiri youths studying in the Uttarakhand capital, Dehradun, have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the attack.
Meanwhile, a number of quarters belonging to Kashmiris in the Janipur area of Jammu were attacked by frenzied mobs, despite imposition of curfew in the city on Saturday.
“The mobs entered inside the premises and attacked quarters of Kashmiris while police remained a mute spectator,” they said, according to GNS.
Secretariat Employees Union President Ghulam Rasool Mir condemned the attack and urged the administration to ensure the safety of the people from Kashmir and those from the particular community.
The fresh attack comes despite the fact that the administration has not relaxed curfew on Saturday too.
After the mob violence, Army was immediately called in to restore order in the city.
Curfew was imposed on Friday when a mob torched and damaged at least 30 vehicles belonging to local Muslims and Kashmiris. Curfew was initially imposed in some vulnerable areas, but was later extended to the entire city as tension mounted in the wake of violence against a particular section of the society.
The authorities met with important citizens belonging to different communities on Friday to seek their help in bringing the city back to normal.
The Joint Resistance Leadership had condemned the arson attacks in Jammu, saying it is the responsibility of the state administration to ensure safety of Kashmiris living there.
“Right from 1947 (when subcontinent was divided), communal forces active in Jammu leave no stone unturned to attack and intimidate Muslims and Kashmiri people,” they said.
Trouble erupted when a group of people belonging to various right wing organisations including Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, and VHP took out a procession carrying tricolours through Gujjar Nagar, which is predominantly inhabited by Muslims.
Earlier, Omar Abdullah, Vice President of the National Conference had appealed Rajnath Singh take ‘special care of areas where Kashmiris as residing or studying.’
In a tweet, he had said that ‘they (Kashmiris) are soft targets in a surcharged atmosphere.’
