Students from Kashmir, whose numbers have been increasing at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), are a scared lot today after the row over an event on the university campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru as police have been quietly approaching them in their rented accommodations and subjecting them to questioning.
After the February 9 incident, where some anti-India slogans were allegedly raised, the police are believed to have collected the names of Kashmiri students that sound similar to those of the organisers of the Guru event.
“I woke up to two policemen knocking at my door earlier this week. They asked objectionable questions and also wanted to know whether I was in touch with any of the students they are looking for in connection with the event,” said a whoman JNU Kashmiri student, who lives in a South Delhi area.
She added: “They asked me whether I was present there on February 9? Why did I attend the programme and much more. They even asked for my passport and other ID proof,”
She said the police, however, did not question her roommate, also a JNU student and does not hail from Kashmir. “They said this is part of the investigation and I should not withhold any information. They, however, did not pose similar questions to my roommate, who is not a Kashmiri,” she said.
A student who lives in a JNU hostel said: “Though I have not been approached by the police directly probably because I am staying on campus, but they have gone to my house in Kashmir for some ‘verification’, during which they enquired about my presence in JNU. My parents are now pressurising me to come back.”
The police in Delhi and Kashmir are maintaining silence on the matter and did not wish to come on record on why they were quizzing Kashmiri students.
JNU students’ union vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora, the first Kashmiri girl to be elected to the JNU students’ body, said: “Fearing a witch-hunt in the aftermath of the event, some students have gone back to their homes in Kashmir till normalcy returns on campus. I have been told that random checks have been conducted in Malviya Nagar and Munirka targeting Kashmiri students. Some who were not even present on the campus on the day of the event have also switched off their phones.
There is a constant atmosphere of fear and intimidation.” Not only JNU students but Jamia Millia Islamia students, hailing from Kashmir, too, have faced similar interrogation, she claimed.