Kashmiri students threaten to leave AMU

More than a thousand Kashmiri students have threatened to surrender their degrees and quit Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

They took the decision to protest against the registration of a sedition case against some students from their state.

The protest was also against the suspension of some other students for reportedly raising slogans in favor of the slain Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, Mannan Wani, and trying to offer a 'Namaz-e-Janaza' (a special prayer offered to mourn a person's death) in the campus a few days back.

Sajjad Subhan, former AMU students' union leader, in a letter to the university administration, termed the charges as ''false'' and said that at least 1,200 Kashmiri students would ''surrender'' their degrees and leave the university if the cases were not withdrawn.

Subhan said that no student from Kashmir had either hailed Wani as a martyr or made any attempt to hold a special prayer to mourn the death.

''The students from Kashmir had assembled on the ground to deliberate on the present situation in the Valley,'' he claimed.

The AMU administration had suspended three students and issued notices to nine others in connection with the incident.

A case of sedition was also registered by the police against two Kashmiri students.

According to sources, a group of around 100 students, mostly from the Valley, had gathered at a campus ground and tried to hold a special prayer to mourn Mannan's killing on Thursday.

Slogans were also reportedly raised in Mannan's support.

Mannan Wani, a research scholar at the AMU, had suddenly disappeared in January this year.

A few days later his pictures carrying an AK-47 appeared on social media.

The University administration had expelled him after reports said that he had joined the banned terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.

Mannan was killed in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir on Thursday.