Tahir Hussain
Bandipora, January 14 : Dozens of the Kashmiri student were beaten to pulp and asked to leave the place they are studying on Wednesday evening at Disha Institute of Management and technology in Raipur Chhattisgarh following a scuffle between Maharashtra students and Kashmiri students.
Witnesses said 34 Kashmiri student were sent to Chattisgrah on 1January 2019 by JKSRLM for training in various job oriented courses under center sponsored scheme Himayat and were enrolled in Disha Institute of Management in Raipur Chhattisgarh.
The students told Kashmir convener over phone that on Wednesday evening dozens of the local students barged into our rooms and smashed window panes and doors. “They also dragged us from their rooms and thrashed us in which four Kashmiri students were injured”.
Students said they went to have dinner in the dining hall on Wednesday evening and by mistake a Kashmiri student picked the plate of a local student. “This frustrated the local students especially the students from Maharashtra so much that they started abusing and quarreling with us and threatened us of dire consequences”.
As we went back to our rooms they barged in our rooms and attacked us, smashed the window panes and beat us so badly in which four Kashmiri students namely Faesal, Mohsin, Naveed and Zahid were injured for no reason. “We have boycotted the mess and we are managing the food and other things ourselves as we don’t want to go there again and get beaten," said a Himayat student Mubashir Ahmad Dar.
"We don't feel safe here anymore after the attack as they call us terrorists. we have been brought here by the Government and it is the responsibility of the Government to provide safety to we people. We want to go home back as we are threatened to leave the institute. We have also not taken any classes from the day we arrived here and it seems that the students are befooled under Himayat scheme," said another student Irfan Nazir of Plan Bandipora.
"The growing incidents of beating the Kashmiri students in various parts of India have become a routine and growing trend now and we will now think hundred times before sending our children in other parts of India. The Government must ensure the safety of our children and provide a secure environment for our children so that they can study," said a parent of a student Bashir Ahmad of Bandipora.
The state coordinator of Himayat programme Shahid Nabi while confirming the incident told said, "We take all the precautionary measures to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students. The local police have taken cognizance of the incident yesterday evening and the security guards have been deployed in the institute to stop any further incident. We are in continuous touch with the principal and other authorities of the institute and they have assured to hold an enquiry about the incident and punish the guilty whosoever”.
Meanwhile former legislators of Bandipora Nizam-u-din Bhat and Usman Majid also took to Twitter and appealed the Governor Administration of JK and Home Ministry of India and PMO to intervene into the matter before the students are put to further harm and ensure the safety of Kashmiri students trained under Himayat in various parts of the country.
