Srinagar: About 280 Kashmiri students have left from Uttarakhand and Haryana and reached Mohali with many on their way to Jammu and Kashmir, a student body arranging their stay in the Punjab town said Monday, after reports of harassment, abuse and rustication of students from the Valley in Dehradun after the Pulwama attack that killed 49 CRPF personnel escalated, a PTI report stated.
A few students studying in the city alleged that they were harassed and asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties following the attack, the report quoted them as having said.
Over the past two days, nearly 280 students have arrived from Dehradun and up to 30 from Haryana’s Ambala district, said Jammu and Kashmir Students Organisation president Khwaja Itrat, as per the report.
He said nearly 150 of the total students have moved towards Jammu, from where they will head to their homes in Kashmir Valley, according to the report.
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“The students told us they wanted to make a halt in Mohali as it was a safer place. We helped them arrange a temporary stay here,” Itrat was quoted as having said.
“Authorities here are cooperating and helping us out. It is a crucial time for many students with final examinations approaching and loss of studies at this time will impact their grades. But the students want the issue to settle down and then they will decide to return,” he said, PTI reported.
The report said that one student has alleged that unknown people attacked him on Saturday night when he was returning to the university hostel in Mullana in Ambala district.
In an informal conversation with reporters, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh clearly stated that all Kashmiri students will be given full protection by his government.
No one will be harassed, he said.
Meanwhile, the Haryana police has registered an FIR after a video on social media showed some people asking Kashmiri students to vacate their accommodations in Mullana, according to the report.
“Another video has surfaced in which two students were threatened to vacate their private accommodation,” Ambala Superintendent of Police Astha Modi said on Monday, as per the PTI report.
In the report, she said there were nearly 600 Kashmiri students in Ambala district, of whom 350-400 were enrolled in a private university in Mullana.
“We reached out to the students and assured them about their security. We also spoke to their parents and assured them. Both the students (identified in the video) and their parents are satisfied with the steps we have taken,” she was quoted as having said.
“Mullana villagers are making announcements on loudspeakers, assuring Kashmiri students of their safety and security,” she said.
Officials said the security around other educational institutes in Haryana, including in Panchkula district, where a large number of Kashmiri students are enrolled, has been stepped up.
Earlier, Aligarh Muslim University suspended an undergraduate Kashmiri student for his alleged objectionable tweet in connection with the Pulwama attack.
A Kashmiri student pursuing BTech in Chitkara University in Himachal Pradesh was arrested for allegedly “glorifying” the suicide bomber Aadil Ahmed Dar, who was behind the Pulwama attack, reported the Indian Express.
In Jammu, curfew was imposed on Friday after miscreants torched vehicles and damaged several others carrying number plates of the Kashmir Valley in protest against Thursday’s killing of 49 CRPF troopers in a suicide attack in Pulwama by a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant.
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 had 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 came despite the fact that the administration had 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.’
