kashmirreader.com
By: Izhar Nazir Ali
Srinagar: Several Kashmiri students, who were attacked last week by activists of Hindu harldline outfit Shiv Sena in Dehradun for staging protests against Afzal Guru’s hanging, have returned to their homes fearing for their lives.
Last Tuesday, dozens of Kashmiris studying in some Dehradun universities were thrashed by the activists of Shiv Sena when they took to streets in the city to protest the hanging of Afzal in New Delhi’s Tihar jail. The students were arrested and later booked by police on criminal charges.
The ‘Shiv Sainiks’ also assaulted Kashmiri students at the market place hours after the protests against Afzal hanging were held. The twin attacks on Kashmiri students on Tuesday last forced dozens of Kashmiri students to abandon their studies and rush home.
“Last Tuesday around 5 pm, I and my friend went to Indira Market to buy shoes when a well built man called us. He asked us if we were Kashmiris. When we said yes, around 30-40 Shiv Sainiks pounced on us and thrashed us mercilessly. Due to severe beating, we went unconscious for some time,” Mohammad Shafi, a first year student of Uttaranchal College of Science and technology, who returned to Valley, told Kashmir Reader.
He said the right wing activists in presence of media threatened Kashmiris of dire consequences for staging pro-freedom and pro-Afzal demonstrations in the city. He said the ‘Shiv Sainiks’ would have lynched him and his friend had the police not reached the spot on time and rescued them.
“When the cops were taking us to the police station, women activists of the Shiv Sena were staging anti-Kashmiri demonstrations. They were very angry,” he said.
A woman activist, he said, came closer to him and spit at his face besides hurling choicest abuses at him and Kashmiris. “I thought the woman came forward to clean blood from my face. However, she spit at my face and abused my mother and sister,” Shafi added.
A day after the assault, Shafi said the activists of ‘Shiv Sena’ carried out raids on the rented rooms of the Kashmiri students in the city. The harassment, he said, forced many students to run for life.
“We were very scared. I and my friend on Wednesday night took a train at Saharanpur to rush home. Everyone was looking at us with suspicion. Sporting beard is like a sin in that city,” he said, adding, “The locals there just need an excuse to harass us. I don’t want to go back to that city. I don’t want to study there anymore.”
Shafi said that he and his friend have filed a case against the ‘Shiv Sainiks’ with the help of the college authorities.
Besides Shafi and his friend, at least 16 Kashmiri students were detained after ‘Shiv Sainiks’ attacked them. A day after the attack, police booked the students for “unlawful assembly” and “disturbing peace,” in the city.
The attack on Kashmiri students comes days after a similar attack on students studying in Bundelkhand University left three students injured. One student had received four stitches in his skull and another received bruises in his legs.
Shaheed Afzal Guru 