Two years ago, Ameena Malik* left her family home in Kashmir’s Anantnag district, to pursue her undergraduate degree from Delhi University. The Malik family always ensured that Ameena, the youngest of three children, was shielded from the violence in the Valley.
Ameena may be around 765km away from the Valley, but she confesses that she feels just as unsafe in Delhi, as she would if she were at the epicentre of the violence in Kashmir. We aren’t treated as equals here, she alleges.
The discrimination is very subtle, especially among girls. No one gets into outright arguments but no one treats us equals either. Whenever there is a riot, or a soldier loses his life, you hear whispers about how we should ‘go back to Pakistan.’ I’m always scared I’ll attract a controversy, or in the worst case scenario, some form of violence.
Like Ameena, Kashmiri students in other parts of the country have alleged that they are discriminated against, and sometimes even subjected to violence.
On 19 April, eight Kashmiri students were assaulted near Mewar University, in Chittogarh, Rajasthan.
In the wake of the incident, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Kashmiris were “equal citizens of India,” and appealed to all states to ensure the safety of Kashmiri youth.
The incident prompted Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to appeal for the safety of Kashmiri students studying in other states. “They are like your own children,” Mufti was quoted as saying – an appeal reiterated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his NITI Aayog meeting with chief ministers. In a statement released by the PMO after the meeting, Modi “urged states to reach out to these students (of J&K) from time to time”.
Despite the government’s assurances, Rajasthan witnessed yet another incident of discrimination against a Kashmiri student, merely days after the Mewar university incident.
Kashmiri Scholar Alleges Harassment at BITS
On the intervening night of 21-22 April, Hashim Sofi, a research fellow, packed his bags and left the BITS Pilani campus for his hometown in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora.
Sofi, 27, a junior research fellow in the varsity’s pharmacy, science and engineering research board (SERB), told the hostel warden that he had found the door of his room and clothes inked with threats and racial slurs. Read the full story here.
Slogans like “such a shame Kashmir dog,” and “Kashmir pervert no place for you,” were scribbled on the clothes that Sofi had hung out to dry.
“As I woke up early, I couldn’t believe my eyes for what was written on the door of my room at Malviya Bhawan Hostel. To add to the surprise, I later on found my clothes have also been pasted with some heart-breaking slogans. I wonder why such animosity for the Kashmiris,” Hashim Sofi wrote on Facebook.
The post has since been deleted. The Quint attempted to get in touch with Sofi, but his phone was switched off.
The Valley has been on boil since the killing of 22-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani in July 2016. The escalating friction between separatists, the government, and the public has often culminated in violence, which has claimed a number of lives.
What About Kashmiri Students In Other States?
Naasir Junaid, who has been living in Delhi for over three years now, says he is always hauled up and asked to display his identity papers. "Whenever a group of friends are out late, no one else’s IDs are checked. No one else is ever interrogated. Just me. And the police are quite vocal about the fact that it's because I'm a Kashmiri Muslim," he says.
Is being a Kashmiri a crime by itself? Innocent people shouldn’t be attacked because of mindless militants. I look forward to that day.
Sayed Mohammed, a student of a prestigious engineering college in Udaipur, alleges that students in his varsity are intolerant. Mohammed, who hails from the Valley’s Kulgum district, says that students like him are subject to intense scrutiny.
“They accuse us of sticking together with fellow Kashmiri Muslims but the truth is that no one else really talks to us,” he says.
We are ostracised because we have an opinion. Sometimes, we sit in the common grounds to eat and we are subjected to so much scrutiny. Students passing by, security guards, everyone scrutinises what we eat.Sayed Mohammed
The only Kashmiri Muslim student in his engineering course at Mysore University, Irfaan Khan, says that his classmates have been advised by their parents to maintain "distance" from him.
“While I’ve got a good set of friends in college, some of their parents don’t like us being friends,” he says.
Sometimes, even my friends are embarrassed to say I’m not invited to their house. I’m used to it now but that’s not how it’s supposed to be.
“There are good universities there (in J&K) also. But what kind of education do we get if there is violence round the year?” Khan asks, adding that the instability in the region forces students to move elsewhere to pursue education. Schools and colleges in the Valley were shut for almost eight months in the wake of the July 2016 protests. Educational institutes were reopened in March this year, only to be shut again for a week in April following protests by students in Pulwama.
The Valley needs more educated people, and we are dependent on other states for this education. But one video showing some people playing cricket in Pakistan’s colours sets the tone of people in Kashmir and everyone forgets about the suffering. The day the video came out, I don’t know how many people asked me to go to Pakistan
(*Name changed on request.)
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