Eight days on and protests at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus here refuse to die down. Ignoring a fervent appeal from the faculty to help in restoration of normalcy on the campus, the outstation students on Friday took out a march to press for their demands, the foremost being shifting the institute out of Kashmir.
Two companies of CRPF deployed at the campus on Wednesday, a day after outstation students clashed with the local police leaving many of them injured, have been joined by three companies of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), taking the number of men in khaki guarding the picturesque grounds and the outstation students to 600.
The campus has been declared out of bounds for the media, however, short videos and photographs on outstation students’ protests are being flashed on social media and shared with the journalists through Whatsapp and email. Twitter handle @SrinagarNIT has also been set up to communicate with the outside world. One of the tweets on Friday said, “Day 8: Just because we are not shouting Azaadi Azaadi and creating drama like... You can’t ignore us.”
A section of visiting reporters insisted on being allowed to go inside to meet the protesting students “to know their viewpoint firsthand” but the security force officials refused them entry.
A Delhi-based TV journalist got in touch with one of the outstation students on his mobile phone and asked him if he and others could come outside the main gate of the NIT opening on Nigeen-Hazratbal road. But since CRPF, SSB and the J&K police had blocked the passageway just behind the entrance they could not move beyond.
After being stopped at the CRPF barricade, the protesting students began yelling ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and with that the Tricolour went up as could be seen by this correspondent from a small framed window of a nearby overwhelming private house. After about 30-minute-long parade they went back chanting ‘We’re not safe here... Evacuate us...Shift NIT’.
Their other demands are; stern action be taken against the police officials involved in Tuesday’s cane-charge against them, they be allowed to directly interact with media and their parents be allowed to visit them. A note on their demands flashed on social media reads “Our final demands: 1. Shift the NIT out of Kashmir. We’re not safe here. The administration, locals and J&K police, all are against us. The administration is spreading false news to media and also not allowing us to directly interact with media. 2. Evacuation of all non-locals. We have been repeatedly requesting the administration to evacuate us. The administration is not allowing any students to go home. They are also not allowing any nonlocal parents/media to come inside the campus.”
Their yet another demand that the examinations be postponed has already been conceded. The NIT Registrar Dr. Fayaz Ahmed Mir said on Thursday said the students may skip the minor examinations scheduled to start from April 11 and that they would be given an opportunity to write these exams later.
Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday ordered a probe into the recent incidents of violence including Tuesday’s police cane-charge at protesting outstation students at the institute. Police has registered two separate FIRs at the concerned Nigeen police station here in connection with the violent incidents that took place on the campus on April 1 and 5.
The police has invoked sections 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 427 (mischief), 336 (endangering life of others) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) for the clashes between local and outstation students that took place on April 1.
In the second FIR registered on April 5, the police, besides slapping the charges of the previous FIR, has added sections 353 (assault on public servant) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant). While no one has been named in the two FIRs yet, the official said police is investigating the video evidence of violence that took place on the days of incidents.
The campus overlooking the Dal Lake had on April 1 witnessed clashes after Kashmiri students celebrated India’s defeat at the hands of West Indies in ICC Twenty-20 semi final by chanting pro-Pakistan slogans and lightening fireworks. Exasperated by it, the outstation students who outnumber the locals allegedly attacked them, leading to clashes and closure of the campus for students for four days.
On Tuesday evening, the outstation students attempted to leave the campus but were confronted by local police which used force, leaving many students injured. The incident evoked outrage across the country and many people took to social networking sites to denounce police action. The Centre rushed a two-member team of Human Resources Development Ministry (HRD) to hold talks with outstation students and asses the overall situation on the campus. Also, CRPF was deployed on the campus.
The faculty of the NIT-Srinagar on Friday refuted the allegation that they were biased and playing with the careers of non-local students. The protesting students had on Wednesday told the visiting HRD ministry team that they are being issued academic threats as well.
The NIT Teachers’ Society strongly refuted the charge, terming it “totally baseless”. “The teaching, examinations and evaluation have been based on the performance of students and have never been influenced by religion, region, caste or colour,” it said in a statement here on Friday.
The statement said that in these times of despair, the entire faculty stands by NIT-Srinagar director Rajat Gupta in his effort to bring normalcy to the institute. “The faculty will provide full support to the Director and administration to bring situation under control,” the statement said, appealing all the students and parents for help in the process.
“They are advised to desist from playing in the hands of those who have their vested interests and want to play dirty politics... The students are requested to resume classes,” it said.
