Kashmiri students allegedly attacked in Punjab college after India-Pakistan T20 match
Students of an engineering college in Sangrur alleged that they were attacked with rods and that their hostel rooms were ransacked.
Kashmiri students at an engineering college in Punjab’s Sangrur city have alleged that they were assaulted and their hostel rooms ransacked after the India-Pakistan match in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Sunday.
India lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets in the match held on Sunday evening in Dubai.
After the attack, police brought the situation under control at the Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology, NDTV reported.
In a video widely shared on social media a student can be heard saying that they were attacked by “UP waale” (people from Uttar Pradesh) after the match.
“You can take a look at the room...We were watching the match here,” the student says in the video. “UP waale barged in...We are here to study, we too are Indians. Are we not Indians? Then what does [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi say?”
Aaqib, a student at the college, told Free Press Kashmir that students from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar barged into their rooms and attacked them with rods.
“We were in our hostel rooms when we heard some noise coming from outside,” Shoaib, another student told the news website. “We went to see what is happening and saw some people attacking Kashmiri students in the other block. They had broken the window panes of their rooms and were continuously shouting ‘you are Pakistanis’.”
A senior police official told The Indian Express that there are around 90 Kashmiri students and about 30 from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the college. The official claimed that the Kashmiri students cheered for Pakistan during the match.
“They also raised azadi [freedom] slogans,” the official told The Indian Express.
Sangrur Senior Superintendent of Police Swapan Sharma said that the matter has settled down now. “Both sides have offered their apologies in front of the police and college authorities today [Monday] morning,” he said.
Nasir Khuehami, a spokesperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, said that he had received distress phone calls from Kashmiri students in other Punjab colleges as well.
“Kashmiri students who were assaulted in Sangur Punjab and Kharar Mohali, told me that they were rescued and saved by only locals and Punjabi students,” Khuehami tweeted.
In another series of tweets, he demanded the immediate arrest of all those involved in the attack and that adequate arrangements are made for Kashmiri students in the state.
“Such incidents have increased the sense of insecurity and anxiety among Kashmiri youth studying and working outside as well as among their parents and relatives in Kashmir,” he added.