At a time when certain media houses are training their guns against Jammu Kashmir Police for what they claim ‘brutal assault on non-local students by local cops’ at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar, the facts that have been surfacing are contrary to all such claims made by these media houses. Parents, local students, teaching faculty are holding certain miscreants responsible for the mess. According to them these miscreants from outside states in the garb of ‘pseudo nationalism’ want to save their skin from police action. “They damaged public property, assaulted a courier boy, created a ruckus in the campus on 1st April and to derail the police probe into the incident so that they can come clean, these miscreants are playing political card to gain the sympathy from HRD Ministry and Government of India,” insiders told CNS.
Eyewitnesses said that everything had been resolved and there was peace everywhere when all but 500 students from outside states assembled at campus and tried to march towards main gate. “We were shocked to see some students pushing a top cop and assaulting him. That police officer simply foiled their bid to hit the road, but what the students did was a glaring example of lawlessness. A Kashmiri student will never dare to touch the uniform of a police officer but these miscreants crossed their limits. The top cop fell on ground and when others cops came to his rescue the protesting students tried to assault them as well,” they said.“Some of the photographs showing policemen beating up some students on the road had gone viral. You can see a lathi in the hands of a policeman, but the reality is something different. Police used mild force to disperse them. Most of the students received minor injuries during the melee when police chased them away,” they said adding that it is a blatant lie that police ‘kicked’ and ‘punched’ them as the picture has been portrayed by some media houses from outside state.
“Now these students who are majority in the number have come up with certain demands, some of which are ambiguous. If they want deployment of CRPF for their protection inside the campus, what about the local students? Who will provide us security? Don’t the Kashmiri students studying outside Kashmir deserve security? It is surprising that the outcome of a gentleman’s game was made as a basis for transforming an educational institution into a platform for political melodrama,” local students studying at NIT told CNS.The local students impressed upon the college administration to take stern action against the miscreants involved in vandalization and petrifying Kashmiri students, to ensure safety of minority Kashmiri students. They requested the authorities to take stern action against the communal bigots residing with the campus who attempt to disturb the communal harmony inside the campus. “Such measures are essential to restore an environment congenial to scientific learning and innovation. We appeal these non-local students not to be the victims of venomous rhetoric against Kashmiri’s prevalent in the Indian media,” the local students said. (CNS)