Harassed Kashmiri students head home from universities across Punjab, Uttarakhand and Haryana

Kashmiri origin, studying in different universities across Punjab, find themselves in a precarious situation in the aftermath of the terror attack at Pulwama. Violent protests have forced around 300 students from Punjab, Uttarakhand and Haryana to vacate their homes and head back to Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Students Organisation (JKSO) President Khwaja Itrat said, “Kashmiri students studying in Punjab are safe. There are around 7,000 students in different educational institutions across the state. 250 students who were harassed in Dehradun and asked to vacate their homes have arrived in Mohali and are being accommodated at different places. Some students from Ambala and Delhi have also arrived.”

“The Sohana Gurdwara management has also made a few rooms available for the students,” he added.

A student who arrived from Dehradun said that their homes were attacked by mobs and processions turned violent against Kashmiri students. “The police helped us to leave the neighbourhood,” the student added.

Former CMs Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti appealed for the need to maintain communal harmony saying that terrorising young Kashmiris would only mean and convey that they have no place to go in the country or a future outside the valley. “Are we wittingly and unwittingly becoming a toy in the hands of India’s enemies”, they said. Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has assured that all students would be given protection in the state. Around 4,000 Kashmiri students were studying across the state. “I assure full protection. They have nothing to do with the Pulwama attack,” he said. Around 30 students of Maharishi Markandeshwar University in Mulana near Ambala, Haryana have also headed back home. Over 100 students staying as PGs in the village were shifted to hostels of the university.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Kashmiris were stranded in Jammu as the highway had been closed. The local administration has dispatched batches of residents under police protection.

Meanwhile, Punjab Cricket Association removed the photographs of Pakistani cricketers from various points inside the Mohali stadium. Ajay Tyagi Treasurer of PCA said, “There is a lot of anger in the nation against the heinous attack in Pulwama, thus PCA has decided to show its solidarity with the families of martyr and removed the photos of Pakistani cricketers. Among the photographs that have been removed are Prime Minister Imran Khan, Shahid Afridi, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram.”