Yogi meets Kashmiri students; none from AMU

A group of Kashmiri students from different educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and apprised him of their inability to communicate to their family members in the Valley, which has been under a lockdown since August 5 following the abrogation of Article 370.

Although, the chief minister had invited Kashmiri students from the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to meet him for a discussion too, the latter had categorically declined the invite saying that there was no use in meeting the chief minister of a state, when the issues, that they wanted to raise, only concerned with the Centre.

Adityanath, according to the official sources here, assured the students that he would look into the issues raised by them and provide all possible help.

He also asked the students to frankly share their problems and stressed the need for a dialogue to resolve differences.

"Dialogue is essential in a democracy," he said assuring that the state government would ensure their safety.

The students were later taken on a tour of the famous places in the state capital.

According to the sources, the officials, who were entrusted with the task of bringing the Kashmiri students from AMU to the state capital to meet the chief minister, panicked, when the invitation was refused.

The officials then contacted other educational institutions in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Aligarh and managed to send a group of Kashmiri students to meet Adityanath.

According to the sources, many members of the group told the chief minister that they were unable to communicate with their family members since the lockdown.