Thursday’s suicide attack on Indian army in Kashmir has triggered a wave of hate and revenge attacks against Kashmiri studnets residing in different parts of India.
Many of Kashmiris living outside Kashmir have been threatened, assaulted or forced to vacate their residences and even universities.
Passions have been running high against Kashmiri Muslims since Thursday when 20-year-old Adil Dar rammed his car filled with explosives into a convoy carrying Indian paramilitary forces, killing 42 of them, Al Jazeera reported.
Kashmiri students studying in various parts of India including Delhi,
Dehradun, Patna, Mumbai and Haryana alleged that they were harassed and threatened in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.
In North India city Dehradun, a storefront writes: ‘Dogs are allowed but Kashmiri NOT allowed.’ And, we say ‘Kashmir is an integral part of India.’ pic.twitter.com/6NLA3ZxpQe— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) February 16, 2019
23 year old Kashmiri Amna Abdurahman studying English literature in Dlehi told Maktoob Media she and her friends being looked at with “suspicion after the attack”.
A student from Shopian studying at the MM University in Haryana’s Ambala told the Greater Kashmir that a fellow student was thrashed by a mob. “We were in the market when a group of protesters shouting anti-Kashmiri slogans beat one of us black and blue,” Amir Hussain said.
Asma Ashraf, 24, a student of science in Dehradun, told Al Jazeera that she fears for her life after her hostel was “surrounded by a mob”.
“They asked the college authorities to throw the Kashmiris out,” she said.
Following several reports of threats, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday issued an advisory to all states and union territories to take necessary measures to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students and residents, ANI reported.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Organisation has arranged for 20 rooms at a housing estate in Chandigarh to temporarily house students who have been threatened at their universities or evicted by their landlords, said Khawaha-Itrat, a final-year mechanical engineering student in the city.
