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While it still remains unclear why students at the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, were subjected to police action, political parties have already started the mud-slinging game.
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, among others, have criticised both the state and the Centre, even as a two-member team from the Union human resource development ministry held a consultation with officials of the engineering institute on Wednesday.
Here's a look at what exactly happened at the institute and the developments that have taken place so far.
India’s T20 defeat
The clashes on the NIT campus started on March 31, when a few Kashmiri students celebrated the exit of the Indian cricket team from the World T20 following its loss to the West Indies in the semi-final. This was strongly objected to by non-Kashmiri students in the campus and clashes broke out, leaving a few injured.
Protests and counter protests
On April 1, non-Kashmiri students waved the Tricolour on campus and tried to hoist it near the administrative block, protesting against celebrations on the night before.
These students shouted slogans like ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, ‘Hindustan zindabad’ and ‘Pakistan murdabad’. Kashmiri students too raised counter-slogans like ‘Hum kya chahte, azadi’.
Local Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tarun Vijay lauded the ‘patriotic students’ for teaching separatists ‘a good lesson’. The prevailing unrest forced NIT authorities to suspend classes.
Classes resume
NIT director Rajat Gupta assured students, faculty and parents that the prevailing tensions were temporary and had been overcome. He said that the situation on the campus and in the hostels was normal. Classes resumed on Monday with a heavy deployment of police and the Central Reserve Police Force. “Security is our top priority,” Gupta had said.
Fresh trouble
On April 5, the campus was thrust into further turmoil when some engineering students, who staged a protest march inside the campus and allegedly tried to leave the campus, clashed with the police. They later accused the police of using brute force and, eventually, barge into hostels in order to beat up the students. Two companies of the CRPF were subsequently deployed on the campus.
HRD steps in
Both Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani tweeted saying they spoke to J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and that she had ensured the safety of the students. An HRD ministry team, meanwhile, was sent to the NIT, after a group representing Kashmiri Pandits voiced their concerns regarding the same. The students are now demanding to shift the campus from Kashmir to Jammu, according to a Hindustan Times report.
What non-local students demand?
Apart from the demand of shifting the NIT campus out of Kashmir, the students listed out four other demands to the HRD ministry team:
1) National flag should be hoisted at main gate/fountain along with the state flag.
2) Action must be taken against Jammu and Kashmir policemen who lathi-charged the students and shot tear gas shells on them. The central forces should be engaged for the security of the non-local students studying at the NIT Srinagar.
3) There should be ‘equality and transparency’ during all examinations, events and activities held at the institute. There should be no academic harassment by the faculty.
4) Action should be taken against faculty and administration members who are involved in ‘anti-national activities and violence’. They have even threatened the students.
