J&K govt orders probe into NIT incident

Unrest continues: Students seek permission to hoist Tricolour at college

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday ordered a time-bound probe into the incident, where a clash broke out between students at NIT Srinagar.  

 The move came a day after a Central team ascertained the situation that led to clashes between student groups at NIT Srinagar.

State Education Minister Naeem Akhtar said Additional Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit the report within 15 days. “The situation at National Institute of Technology (NIT) is being closely monitored by the administration, officials of the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry and all the issues will be resolved soon,” he added.

However, notwithstanding the assurances given by the Central and State governments, the non-local students at the prestigious engineering college staged protests inside the campus on Thursday.

Reports said the protesting students shouted slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and marched through the campus demanding shifting of NIT Srinagar to outside the Valley.

The state Director General Police (DGP) K Rajendra visited the institute on Thursday to take stock of the security situation inside the campus where two companies of paramilitary CRPF have been deployed.

The clashes between local and non-local students began on the night of March 31 when India lost the T-20 world cup semi-final match to West Indies. As some Kashmiri students shouting “Hum Kya Chahte Azadi” celebrated India’s defeat, non-Kashmiri students who reportedly raised slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” objected to this.

The following day, the situation worsened, with both groups of students having a brawl, bringing police into the scene. The NIT management suspended classes for two days and when the college reopened on Tuesday situation continued to be volatile.

The protesting students who interacted with the Central team on Wednesday made several demands which include transfer of some NIT officials, action against them for their alleged “anti-national” activities, action against police officials who baton-charged them and permission to hoist Tricolour at the main gate of the college daily.