Following India’s chastening loss to Pakistan in the opening match of the T20 World Cup on Sunday, at least 10 students from Kashmir studying in two private educational institutes in Punjab were allegedly assaulted, threatened and their hostel rooms were vandalised.
Six students of the engineering colleges accused their fellow collegemates belonging to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar of assaulting them after entering their rooms, adding that the hostel staff didn’t intervene to prevent the incident.
Following the complaint, police have started an investigation into the incidents in Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology on the outskirts of Sangrur town and Rayat Bahrat University in Kharar in Mohali district.
One of the students live-streamed the attack with sticks and rods on Facebook.
“The local Punjabi students came to our rescue and tried to save us from the attack,” a victim student told the police.
The students alleged that the assault was in retaliation of India’s defeat to Pakistan.
In a similar incident, four students were assaulted and beaten up in Rayat Bahrat University.
“Kashmiri students who were assaulted in Sangrur and Kharar Mohali told me that they were rescued by the locals and other Panjabi students. Students from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana had barged into their rooms, thrashed them and went on a rampage,” national spokesperson J&K Students Association Nasir Khuehami tweeted.
He said 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.