As Kashmiris living and studying in India are facing xenophobia, sedition, terminations and rustication, at least two institutes of Dehradun have said that they won’t admit Kashmiri students anymore, reported the Indian Express.
The report said in an “undertaking” to the students’ union of the Dehradun-based DAV PG College — which, along with members of the ABVP, VHP, and Bajrang Dal, had led the protests outside colleges on Friday — Dr Aslam Siddiqui, principal of Baba Farid Institute of Technology (BFIT), wrote on Friday, “Students’ Union president, we assure you that if any Kashmiri student is found engaged in any anti-national activity, then the student will be expelled from the institute.”
“No new Kashmiri student will be admitted in the upcoming session),” the letter further said.
Another letter addressed to the DAV Students’ Union and signed by S K Chauhan, Director of the Dehradun-based Alpine College of Management and Technology, reproduced verbatim the contents of the BFIT letter. Chauhan too issued the letter on Friday.
DAV Students’ Union president Jitendra Singh Bisht, who is from the ABVP, told Indian Express, “We haven’t been able to approach all institutes, but we will do so and get an undertaking that they won’t take in any new Kashmiri student.”
Vikas Verma, Bajrang Dal leader in Dehradun, said, “We don’t want even one Kashmiri Muslim student in Uttarakhand because they are engaged in anti-national activities.”
Earlier, a doctor from Kashmir who has been living in Kolkata for the past 22 years claimed that he had been asked to leave or face ‘dire consequences’ following the Pulwama attack on a CRPF bus on Jammu- Kashmir highway that killed 49 personnel.
According to the report, the doctor, who did not wish to be named, said he was heckled but he had not paid much heed to the threats he had received initially. However, he grew concerned after some men gathered outside his residence and threatened to harm his daughter unless he “returned to Pakistan”.
A mob had threatened to set a Dehradun college on fire if the institute didn’t terminate a Kashmiri dean. Abid Kuchay, college Dean of the Alpine Institute has been terminated.
“The college asked for it. I agreed for the betterment of the college,” he said. Abid’s resignation has been asked for his role of getting Kashmir students admitted in the college.
Moreover, four Kashmiri students were suspended on Saturday by the National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Rajasthan for sharing a WhatsApp status in which they were allegedly celebrating the Pulwama attack which left 49 CRPF personnel dead.
The second-year students — Talveen Manzoor, Iqra, Zohra Nazir and Uzma Nazir — were suspended soon after they shared as a WhatsApp status allegedly celebrating the killings of the CRPF personnel in the attack.
Now, all four have been charged with sedition.
Earlier, Shridev Suman Subharti University in Dehradun suspended a Kashmiri student after his alleged WhatsApp chat regarding the Pulwama attack went viral.
Meanwhile, Aligarh Muslim University also suspended a Kashmiri student over a ‘highly objectionable tweet’.
Omar Saleem Peerzada, AMU PRO said: “We have come to know of the highly objectionable tweet. Taking immediate cognizance the student has been suspended by the university administration,” he said.
Moreover, 15-20 Kashmiri female students had locked themselves in a hostel room in Dehradun after a mob surrounded the campus area, demanding the management to ‘throw them out of their rooms’.
Shazia Hamid, one of the students, told Free Press Kashmir that she and other Kashmiri female students, fearing the mob, have locked themselves in a room.
Following Free Press Kashmir’s news story the women were provided safety by the Dehradun police who dispersed the crowd peacefully.
Earlier, former chief minister Omar Abdullah had appealed to the Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh to direct all state governments to take ‘special care of areas where Kashmiris as residing or studying.’
Following the reports of attacks on Kashmiris in various parts of India, Government of India on Saturday asked all the states to ensure safety and security of the students and people from Jammu and Kashmir.
