The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Sunday shot down reports claiming that Kashmiri students are facing harassment in some parts of India following the dastardly Pulwama terror attack which left over 40 CRPF personnel dead.
Requesting people not to circulate the fake news about harassment of Kashmiri students, the CRPF, in its advisory, said that it enquired about the alleged incidents and found them incorrect.
“ADVISORY: Fake news about harassment of students from #Kashmir is being propagated by various miscreants on social media,” the CRPF wrote in a tweet.
“CRPF helpline has enquired about complaints about harassment and found them incorrect,” CRPF added, referring to the Madadgaar service of the force.
“These are attempts to invoke hatred,” CRPF said, warning, “Please DO NOT circulate such posts.”
ADVISORY: Fake news about harassment of students from #Kashmir is being propagated by various miscreants on social media.
CRPF helpline has enquired about complaints about harassment and found them incorrect.
These are attempts to invoke hatred
Please DO NOT circulate such posts— 🇮🇳CRPF🇮🇳 (@crpfindia) February 17, 2019
A dastardly terror attack by Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) on Thursday left 44 CRPF personnel dead and scores injured.
While the incident triggered a wave of anger among Indians against Pakistan, many social media users as well as some media reports claimed that Kashmiri students were being threatened and harassed in some parts of the North India by mobs.
Referring to one such incident in which students were allegedly trapped in a girls’ hostel in Dehradun, Ashok Kumar, ADG (Law-Order), said that it is a rumour.
“The incident of students being trapped in a girls hostel is a rumour being spread on social media. A procession was taken up by locals in wake of the Pulwama Attack where people were chanting ‘Pakistan murdabad’,” Kumar was quoted as saying by ANI.
“It is told that girls from the hostel chanted ‘Pakistan zindabad’. We don’t have any proof regarding this. Police got this info. We immediately intervened in the matter and sorted it out,” he added.
The Uttarakhand Police said that even the girls in the hostel have quashed the rumours.
Don’t Believe In Rumours pic.twitter.com/4WpoSCq1zz
— Uttarakhand Police (@uttarakhandcops) February 16, 2019
The Dehradun police also posted a video showing normal situation in and around the hostel where 75 students from different parts of the country are staying.
Photographs of Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti interacting with the girl students were also released on Sunday.
Kukreti appealed, “It is totally baseless news that some girl students have locked themselves in their rooms at the nest hostel. Presently 75 girls from different part of India are staying there. The situation is normal.”
A rather peaceful town, the Kashimiri students come to Dehradun for higher studies. Last year a sensation incident took place in Dehradun in which Shoaib Ahmed, a J-K student pursing B.SC (IT) course from at the Alpine Institute of Management and Technology, disappeared suddenly and later information about the youth joining terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen came.
Shoaib was killed in an encounter in Budgam district of Kashmir last week.
The situation for Kashmiri students living in Dehradun turned uncomfortable recently. As, after the Pulwama attack, a Kashimiri student enrolled in a local college in Dehradun created uproar by making anti-national comment on social media. He was arrested.
The CRPF also warned people not to spread fake images of martyrs on social media.
“ADVISORY: It has been noticed that on social media some miscreants are trying to circulate fake pictures of body parts of our Martyrs to invoke hatred while we stand united. Please DO NOT circulate/share/like such photographs or posts,” read a tweet posted by the CRPF.
ADVISORY: It has been noticed that on social media some miscreants are trying to circulate fake pictures of body parts of our Martyrs to invoke hatred while we stand united. Please DO NOT circulate/share/like such photographs or posts. Report such content at webpro@crpf.gov.in
— 🇮🇳CRPF🇮🇳 (@crpfindia) February 17, 2019
The force also asked people to report the spread of such content at webpro@crpf.gov.in.