By Omar Rashid
New Delhi: Amid reports of students from Kashmir in north India facing harassment and threats over the Pahalgam attack in which over two dozen civilians were killed, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has said his government was in touch with the states where such incidents were being reported.
“I’m also in touch with my counterpart Chief Ministers in these states & have requested they take extra care,” Abdullah said on X, after the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, an advocacy group for Kashmiri students outside the valley, flagged these incidents in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Kashmiri students were allegedly attacked inside their hostel premises in Universal Group of Institutions in Dera Bassi, Chandigarh on Wednesday night. In a video, some of the students said that some locals and students from other states forcibly entered the hostel and targeted them with sharp weapons. “They carried knives. We are not safe here. We fear we might be attacked,” a student said in a distress video.
One of the students seen in the video had sustained an injury on his arm while others had their clothes torn. Around 100 Kashmiri students study at the institution.
Nasir Khuehami, national convenor of the J&K Students Association, alleged that the college security had remained passive during the entire incident and did not intervene or protect the students. “Even more concerning is the fact that Punjab Police did not provide timely protection or assistance, further emboldening the attackers and leaving students vulnerable and traumatised,” he said.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.