‘They’ve known us since we joined college’ – In Dehradun, shocked Kashmiri students leave campus following threats & heckling

In the video, Lalit Sharma, a Hindu Raksha Dal leader, is heard saying: “The incident in Pahalgam has hurt us… If we see any Kashmiri Muslim in the state after 10 am tomorrow, we will give them the right treatment. Tomorrow, all our workers will leave their homes to give this treatment to Kashmiri Muslims. We won’t wait for the government to take action… Kashmiri Muslims, leave by 10 am, else you will face action you can’t imagine.”

Nasir Khuehami of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association claimed that right-wing outfits from the state have been issuing threats asking Kashmiri Muslims to leave by 10 am. According to JKSA, there are over 2,000 Kashmiri students in Uttarakhand.

“Several rushed from their institutions to the airport. We have spoken to the Governor of the state and the police. We are in contact with the students to check on the situation,” he said.

The heckling and the threats have made five Kashmiri students – including the 20-year-old — leave their BFIT campus at 2 am and have been waiting at the Jolly Grant airport since then.

“At night, we booked a flight. We were scared of staying in the area, so we left for the airport soon after,” he says.

“Our flight is at 6 pm to Delhi and from there, the connection flight is at 8 am tomorrow,” a second-year Kashmiri student, who’s pursuing a BSc degree to train as an operation theatre technician at a college under BFIT, says. “The professors in our college said that they feared for our safety and told us they would send us to a different area, 50 km away, till the situation was stable. They were deliberating to send us to Chandigarh, but we decided to leave the campus around 2 am on Thursday after booking our flights to Delhi. Our professor gave us his car and guard.”

On their part, the Uttarakhand Police say they are in touch with deans and wardens of institutes where Kashmiri students study. “All are assured of safety and security, and if anyone does anything against the law, we will take strict action,” Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Ajai Singh said, although he didn’t comment on the video.

The students now plan to remain in Kashmir until September. “Our summer vacation will start in a few weeks. However, I’m worried about the Kashmiri students and faculty at BFIT,” says a third student.

Meanwhile, the first one, who’s pursuing a BSc in Forestry, says his mother has been demanding he come back after watching the videos. “Initially, she saw threat videos, but when she heard that students were being harassed elsewhere in India, my mother asked me to come straight home. The situation back home is also not stable,” he says. “Our college CEO, Bhupinder Singh, helped us get to the airport,” he adds.

The CEO, Singh, however, said that the videos threatening students should not be taken seriously. “The government is trying to ensure peace. The students asked us for help after they got their leave sanctioned, so I helped them reach the airport. This is a routine exercise,” he said.

Uttarakhand was among the first states where Kashmiri students faced harassment in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama attack. Several students were targeted, forced to leave their hostels, and even attacked, creating a climate of fear. The number of admissions and enrollments in Uttarakhand of students from the valley has also declined ever since.

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