NSUI's Kashmir University president resigns after Hizbul threat

National Students Union of India (NSUI) Kashmir University president on Sunday resigned after a  threat by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Reyaz Naikoo.

In a video shared on social media, Naikoo while asking students, who are part of NSUI in Kashmir University to desist from it as "soon as possible", said, "Otherwise, they (NSUI members) will not get a chance to repent."

"We know who is working in the union (NSUI) and who is its president. Our cadres are in the university and they will  not remain under the impression that we don't know anything," Naikoo, a 30-year-old postgraduate, said.

Naikoo is a contemporary of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, whose killing in 2016 triggered unprecedented unrest in Kashmir, which left nearly 100 civilian protesters dead in clashes with security forces.

Immediately after the video surfaced, Syed Muneeb, the president of NSUI in Kashmir University issued a statement announcing his resignation.

"I, the president of NSUI Kashmir University, had taken the opportunity to help my fellow students regarding the issues related to academics and mess. I have no affiliation whatsoever with any political stand. Now I am resigning from this position immediately," he announced.

A student of the law department  at the university, Muneeb said that he has been an  active participant in student activism but was "unaware" about the NSUI.

"While mainstream political parties always try their level best to establish groups within campus, some days back, I, oblivious and without any knowledge, joined National Students Union which in others words was a grave mistake on my part," Muneeb said.

Most student unions have been proscribed in Kashmir by the government.

In the late 2000s, the Kashmir University Students' Union (KUSU) came to the fore, organising protests and talks on the university campus. The union had been banned since the early 1990s but was briefly allowed to function between 2007 and 2009.