State education minister Naeem Akhtar said: “The situation on the campus is being closely monitored by the state administration, officials of the human resource development ministry and the NIT”. The Kashmiri students who were scared alleged that it has become a routine for the people here to harass and label Kashmiri students as anti-India.
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A clash apparently broke out, and multiple reports indicated that non-Kashmiri students attacked Kashmiri students and a local courier delivery boy.
According to witnesses in the campus, local students had been cheering for the West Indies while the non-locals were supporting Team India.
On the third day of the protest, outstation women students chanted “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and marched through the campus, demanding the shifting of NIT from Kashmir to outside the Valley.
“The mandate is to build confidence amongst students and assure them about their safety”, the official said. Strongly condemning the lathicharge on outstation students by Jammu and Kashmir police, Katoch demanded security and their protection in the campus.
The protesting students said they want action to be taken against the policemen who assaulted their fellow students on April 4. Police stopped them at the main gate, after which clashes erupted.
The incident also drew the attention of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who asked PDP-BJP government in the state not to harass the students.
“Lathi charge on students in Srinagar is highly condemnable”.
In a memorandum to the team of Union HRD Ministry, the local students said the demand for permanent presence of central security forces at the institute can make it vulnerable to disturbances owing to political events outside the campus. “I was threatened by Kashmiri girls of my class to attend classes, otherwise we will be raped and molested by the locals”, she said. “We demand they should come up with the evidence to justify what they have said and if they are proved wrong they have to apologize”, they added.
Outstation students, on the other hand, alleged that they were holding protests and were lathicharged by the police with brute forces and not allowed to move out of the NIT gate.
In Jammu & Kashmir, the impasse between the administration and the non-local students continued at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar.
Referring to J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, Irani said, “Mufti ji has also told me that an inquiry has also been constituted to ascertain what happened”.
The non-local students Friday morning again tried to take out a rally outside the campus.
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“All we want is the justice for our friends who were brutally beaten by the police”, the girl said.
