India

Pulwama attack: Horrible situation, would be wonderful if India, Pak get along, says Donald Trump

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United States President Donald Trump called the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Lethpora area along the Srinagar-Jammu highway in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, killing 49 CRPF personnel, a ‘horrible situation’ and said that he was currently getting reports and would issue a statement later, PTI reported.

State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino expressed “strong support” for India and asked Pakistan to “punish anyone responsible” for the attack, the report quoted him as having said.

Furthermore, Trump told reporters at the Oval Office of White House that it would be “wonderful” if the two South Asia neighbors get along, according to the report.

“I have watched. I have got a lot of reports on it. We will have comment (on it) at an appropriate time. It would be wonderful if they (India and Pakistan) get along,” Trump said in response to a question, as per the report.

“That (Pulwama attack) was a horrible situation. We are getting reports. We will have a statement to put out,” Trump was quoted as having said in the report.

ALSO READ: Pulwama attack: If India proclaims war on Pakistan, we will not think of retaliating, we will retaliate, says PM Imran Khan

Separately, in a news conference, the State Department Deputy Spokesperson said the US has been in close communication with the Indian government “to express not only our condolences but our strong support”, PTI reported.

“We urge Pakistan to fully cooperate with the investigation into the attack and to punish anyone responsible,” Palladino said, as per PTI.

The US has also been in contact with Pakistan following the attack, he said.

Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton, has supported India’s right to self-defense, whereas in separate statements, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, Bolton, and the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders have asked Pakistan to immediately take action against the JeM and its leaders and ‘end support to terrorist safe havens’, the report said.

Soon after the February 14 attack, Navjot Singh Sidhu, a minister in Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress government in Punjab, asked whether an entire country (Pakistan) could be blamed for the acts of a few.

Sidhu, however, strongly condemned the Pulwama attack.

After the Pulwama attack, Kashmiris living in India have been facing xenophobia, hate, terminations and suspensions.

ALSO READ:  ‘We were attacked from all sides’: Darbar move employees in Jammu say neighbours were part of the mob too

A mob 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

Earlier, Shridev Suman Subharti University in Dehradun suspended a Kashmiri student after his alleged WhatsApp chat regarding the Pulwama attack went viral.

ALSO READ: #IndiaWantsRevenge: Kashmiris outside fear for their lives, face xenophobia, abuse, rustication after Pulwama attack

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.

ALSO READ: ‘We’re alive today because of our Sikh brothers’: Kashmiri drivers back home from Jammu tell tales of agony and hope

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.

ALSO READ: When Basant Rath ‘came to the rescue’ of Kashmiri students in Dehradun

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