SRINAGAR: A university in Uttar Pradesh state has asked at least 130 Kashmir students to leave the campus for ‘celebrating’ Pakistan’s victory over India in the cricket match on Sunday.

The students belonging to many parts of Kashmir and studying in Meerut’s Swami Vivekanand Subharti University (SVSU) said they were watching the nail-biting contest alongside their local colleagues inside main hall of the institute. As the match finished with the victory of Pakistan, inciting applauds from the Kashmiri students supporting the winning side, the local students abused them and attempted a physical assault on them, the students said on Monday.

“When we clapped at the victory of Pakistan, it infuriated the local students. They went on a rampage, damaged the hall, hurled abuses at us, and threatened to beat us,” a B Tech student at SVSU, Irfan Ahmad Rather told Kashmir Reader over phone.

“Afterwards, they attacked our hostel rooms with stones. They broke the windowpanes, and were continuously trying to assault us physically. Our seniors managed to save us,” he added.

On Monday, Rather said, the local students lodged a complaint with the institute’s administration, accusing Kashmiris of raising slogans in the campus to celebrate Pakistan’s victory.

“It was untrue, but the Vice-Chancellor and other officials asked us to leave the campus for now. We were provided vehicles and police escort till we board the train,” Rather, who was on train when he last talked to Kashmir Reader, said.

Meanwhile, the chairman of SVSU has conveyed that their institute will not provide admission to any Kashmiri in future, according to a local news agency GNS.

“I received a mail from the chairman Atul Krishna of the university about the incident. They have mentioned that this year varsity has decided not to entertain any Kashmiri student. The varsity chairman has also (said) that the Kashmir students should be sent to Pakistan for studies,” the GNS quoted Rabia Baaji, who is coordinator of Kashmir consultancy that facilitates admission of Kashmiri students in SVSU, as having said.

However, contact could not be established with the authorities at SVSU.

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