J&K NIT row blown out of proportion

Bid to stoke nationalistic fires

The Srinagar NIT row has reached the doorstep, expectedly, of the honourable Union Minister of HRD, Smriti Zubin Irani, now. About 1,500 students of the NIT "extricated" themselves successfully from the "dangerous campus" and under the guidance of some "elders" have reached New Delhi via Jammu.

They are seeking justice (whatever it means). Not so surprisingly, all of them are blaming the media for the mess, all the while accusing the 'locals' of posing threat to their lives. The issue is said to have begun with a row over India's defeat in the hands of West Indies. At least, that is what these students are claiming.

Students who landed here I am holding back names for obvious reasons are not uniform in their claims, however. The problem does not seem to have to do much with the outcome of the match as much as it is with the lack of understanding of Kashmiri youths' psyche on part of the NIT students belonging to outside.

Confronted with a fact-finding report of the highly respected Kashmir Civil Society that probed the issue dispassionately and stated that the problem in fact began with the non-Kashmiri students, the students who have arrived in Delhi prefer silence.

A respectable member of the Hoteliers Association of Jammu and Kashmir, S K, a Hindu with business interests in both the regions, dismisses the whole issue as a fall-out of "immaturity on part of the outside students and unnecessary meddling in the name of national sentiments." S K was speaking to me from Srinagar.

I can vouch for his integrity any day as I know his ''Kashmiriyat'' full well. He never baulked under either militant pressure or Army pressure and stood his ground. "Have you ever noticed harassment or intimidation of outside students in any campus in the past here? Clashes in the campus are very rare here. We do not have here the kind of groupings like in other universities of India. There are no isms dominating NIT campus here.

Moreover, the local Kashmiri youth is fully aware of the fall-out of clashes, if any, now-a-days on Kashmiris studying elsewhere. These are not the lumpens that are out on the streets throwing stones at everything. They are as dreamy eyed as their Indian counterparts. My information is that some freshers in the campus ignited the debate," he added.

The fact-finding committee report of Prof Hameeda Nayeem's Kashmir Centre for Social and Developmental Studies (KCSDS) corroborates his view. A team of KCSDS comprising members of bar association and other formations is alarmed that there is an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill in the issue by some vested interests elsewhere in the country.

The report stated that it was a “pre-planned incident that took place in NIT Srinagar after the conclusion of 31st March India-West Indies cricket match in Mumbai. 'This manipulated row provided a pretext to the Government of India to issue a series of statements in favour of non-local students and some Indian news channels to carry out propaganda against Kashmiris.

It is important to set the records right by putting the facts before the Indian public. After conducting an internal inquiry, we came to know that the row was started by non-local students on March 25 after the defeat of Pakistan cricket team at the hands of Australian team at Mohali by 21 runs. The non-locals celebrated this defeat with great fanfare to apparently provoke the local students and laugh and revel at their discomfiture.

It is needless to say that Kashmiri youth always side with Pakistan team and mourn their defeat since the birth of Pak cricket team for reasons known to everyone,” they said. The report further stated that in response to this on March 31 at the conclusion of 2nd semi final between India and West Indies, Kashmiri students celebrated Indian defeat comparatively for a brief while 'not so much for the love of West Indies team as to wreak vengeance on the non-local students for what they had done on March 25.”

“Next day on Friday, the non-locals assembled and took out a procession around the entire campus displaying a huge tri-colour flag which descended as if from heaven. Everyone is intrigued from where it came as there are no flags available in the market in the vicinity of the college.

Then they also hoisted flags on the hostel building and some other buildings. Though on next day, the flags had been removed. Another intriguing thing is that persons like Anupam Kher tweeted within no time, even before staffers in the college came to know about it''.

Any person familiar with the Kashmir situation would vouch for the fact that procuring a tri-colour would be difficult in Kashmir. Asked whether the report painted a distorted picture, senior students of the NIT here disagree and admit that campus clashes are rare in Srinagar.

A third year student confides on the condition of anonymity: "we never saw any trouble in the past two and half years. These first year students, the freshers, created the ruckus in fact. The display of jingoism was wrong when Pakistan was defeated ahead of India's defeat in the hands of the West Indies.”

Finger of suspicion is pointed towards a faculty member of the Metallurgy Department who rejoined duties after a two-month study leave. As for the charge that the non-local students bad been prevented from walking out of the campus, it is intriguing to note that such a charge is being levelled against the police as it was in the best interests of the students that the measure had been taken. What would have happened if some outside force inimical to India decides to attack the students?

The issue of disallowing Anupam Kher and a few hundred members of a Hindutva brigade from entering the campus in question was also blown out of proportion. Does the police allow any movement in the Osmania University campus when it is under prohibitory orders? Governments throughout the country defend such actions, but when it comes to Srinagar, a different jargon is heard. It is not for nothing that the Kashmiri Civil Society is worried about the safety and security of Kashmiri students elsewhere in the country.

The attempts at balkanisation of the country must stop forthwith, otherwise, a great disaster awaits the country, a Kashmiri forum apprehends, while appealing to the non-local students to remain focused on studies and not fall victim to the designs of some ideological forces. Already, an alleged controversial Facebook post over the NIT-Srinagar issue led to a scuffle between two groups of students at a private college yesterday in Jammu.

The trouble began after a senior student Model Institute of Engineering and Technology (MIET) allegedly wrote a "provocative" post on his Facebook account on Sunday. The message was shared on Whatsapp and led to an argument between two groups of students. This led to clashes and attacks on Kashmiri voices, local papers reported.

Those who wanted to stoke nationalistic fires in JNU and UoH are forgetting that Srinagar NIT issue could lead to disastrous consequences if not nipped in the bud. Asked straight whether the issue was insecurity feeling or national flag, the senior NIT students said "neither. We are not sure. At least it is not about our tri-colour. We were told that applying pressure on the Centre would help us move to a different campus." Clearly on the horns of dilemma, these students are!