Key points
- Students harassed and physically attacked: student leader
- Kashmiri students were allegedly called “terrorists”
- Students say hostel doors broken
NEW DELHI, India: Students from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have reported harassment and intimidation in India after over two dozen people were killed in the Pahalgam incident, a student association said Thursday.
26 men were killed – all Indian except one Nepali – in the tourist hotpot of Pahalgam on Tuesday. The incident has enraged Hindu nationalist groups.
Kashmiri students in states including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh were allegedly asked to leave their rented apartments or university hostels on Wednesday, Jammu and Kashmir Students Association convenor Nasir Khuehami said.
Racial profiling
At a university in Himachal Pradesh, students were harassed and physically attacked after hostel doors were broken, Khuehami said.
The students were allegedly called “terrorists”, he added.
“This is not just a security issue”, he said. “It is a deliberate and targeted campaign of hate and vilification against students from a particular region and identity”.
In Uttarakhand’s capital city Dehradun, around 20 students fled to the airport on Wednesday following warnings from Hindu Raksha Dal, a right-wing group.
This is not just a security issue. It is a deliberate and targeted campaign of hate and vilification against students from a particular region and identity.” – Jammu and Kashmir Students Association convenor Nasir Khuehami
The students said that the group threatened Kashmiri Muslim students with dire consequences if they did not leave town at the earliest.
Freedom fighters have waged a struggle in IIOJK since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Indian security forces have launched a vast manhunt in IIOJK after the Pahalgam incident, with large numbers of people detained in the operation.
