Kashmiri NCC cadets attend sessions

Like other parts of the country thousands of people, including students and security personnel, participated in events marking the International Day of Yoga in Kashmir valley on Sunday.

However, some students in Kashmir University (KU) on late Saturday night held a protest against the observance of “Yoga Day”.

Reports said hundreds of members of National Cadet Corps (NCC) performed “asanas” (postures) at eight different venues in Kashmir and Ladakh regions.

The biggest event was held in Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium, where over 1,200 NCC cadets were present.

The same number participated in an event held at Leh in the high-altitude Ladakh region.
“Nearly 6,000 Kashmiri NCC cadets, both boys and girls, joined the Army in Yoga as a part of healthy lifestyle initiative.

“The Srinagar-based Chinar Corps joined the local youth by conducting yoga as part of their daily physical activity, in addition to physical training, in all parts of the valley including in high-altitude posts,” Srinagar-based army spokesman said in a statement.

“These NCC cadets had undergone structured training by trained yoga instructors. The standard of performing yoga was evident with the synchronised and well-timed movements as well as the confidence and ease with which these cadets performed in unison,” he added. The paramilitary CRPF also celebrated the day by holding yoga sessions at all its establishments in the valley.

However, students of KU opposed any move to organise yoga sessions on the campus and most government schools and colleges in the Muslim-majority Kashmir missed the event.

 Reports said that hostel boarders assembled to protest the university’s move to “hold Yoga Day” in the campus. The protesters shouted anti-BJP and pro-freedom slogans for more than two hours.

“We had information that the University’s Sports wing is observing Yoga Day. We decided not to allow it because we have nothing to do with Yoga or Yoga Day,” a group of protesting students told Deccan Herald.

A spokesman of KU downplayed the issue, saying “There was some misunderstanding about the issue. The matter was resolved amicably.”

The Jamaat-e-Islami, the Kashmir Valley’s largest socio-religious group, had opposed yoga and described it as “not only a physical exercise but a religious dogma”.

“Yoga is not a simple exercise but a religious exercise-cum-prayer of a particular polytheistic community in which, besides physical exercises, some religious practices of this particular community are intermixed,” said Jamaat spokesman Zahid Ali.