We could be next: How the JMI and AMU attacks have instilled fear in Muslim universities

It began with Jamia Millia Islamia. A few hours into the violence on the campus and premises of Jamia Milia Islamia, the Uttar Pradesh Police entered the campus of Aligarh Muslim University. Fearing the worst, the students from other major Islamic management-run universities worry that they could be the next victims — distance from Delhi aside.

Part of the reason is that plenty of them have been protesting against CAB and then CAA for almost a week now. The students of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad have been protesting against the police brutality in AMU and JMI since Sunday. "Our university is on lockdown. All the students are boycotting examinations in protest," says Faizan, a PhD student and an AISA activist.

He also tells us that more than 20 police vehicles have been parked right outside their university's gate since Sunday. "They are outside the gates, but a few of them tried to enter the university a few times yesterday night," adds Faizan. "In this atmosphere of hatred and Islamophobia, we fear that our university is the next target," he says.

Students in various universities in the country have been protesting in solidarity with the students of JMI and AMU and against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Police wagons parked outside college gates is no longer is a strange spotting. There were reports of the police beating up the students of the University of Hyderabad and the University of Delhi.

A few kilometres away from JMI is the Jamia Hamdard Deemed-to-be University campus. The students tell us that they too have been living in fear since they heard of the happenings in JMI. "We are protesting peacefully here. But we can see the policemen. We could be their next target," says a student. "We are scared."