The district administration of Kargil allegedly canceled student activist Shehla Rashid's student interaction programme which was to be held at the Officers' Club, Baroo in Kargil on Tuesday. The organisers and speakers at the event claim that the authorities came under the pressure of the BJP leaders and decided to cancel the event.
The organiser, Zakir Zaid said that everything was going according to plan until late Monday night when the DC allegedly started facing pressure from BJP to shut down the event, "Such a move is not only dictatorial but also discriminatory because BJP leaders are allowed to hold programmes regularly in Kargil, but those who raise genuine issues of students and youth are not allowed."
In a release issued by JNU student activists Shehla Rashid and Mohit Pandey, it was mentioned that the students who had come to attend the programme and had been waiting for over an hour for the conference hall to be unlocked, staged a sit-in outside the venue where several students and youth from Kargil made passionate speeches, raising issues of education and lack of opportunities faced by the youth of Kargil.
The students at the event accused of the ruling government of cutting down fellowships/scholarships and seats in higher education. "They also spoke about the lack of infrastructure such as an airport in Kargil. The youth spoke about how they are transported as cargo, by weight, if they travel by the airplanes meant for the courier service," the release read.
Shehla Rashid in her speech at the event also accused the government of implementing policies in the state that had adversely affected businesses," When the state has a special status by was GST forced on the people?" She also appealed for unity among the student in the state by asking them to excel in their respective fields.
