Video Producer: Asmita Nandy
Video Editor: Mohd. Irshad Alam and Md. Ibrahim
“We are just students. We had just gone to Dehradun to study. We have no connection with any issue or politics. Then why did the people of Uttarakhand do this to us?”
Thus said a voice behind a black burkha, sitting at a house in Jammu where she has taken shelter after fleeing from Dehradun, the city which witnessed a mass exodus of Kashmiri students in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack.
‘Threats From Mob, Fear of Life’: Kashmiri Girls Recall Horror
On 16 February, a peaceful procession allegedly turned into a mob in Dehradun’s Suddhowala area. A group reportedly stopped outside the Girls Nest Hostel and threatened 15 Kashmiri girls living there.
Saira (Name changed), an inmate of the hostel, recalled the incident.
“We were simply sitting in our hostel when we saw some people gathering outside for a peaceful rally. We were just trying to see what the situation was. They were raising slogans like ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ and ‘Kashmiri ko Bahar Nikalo’. When they spotted us, they alleged that someone among us has raised ‘anti-India’ slogans. We did not do anything like that. Then they started shouting and asking us to come down, but within minutes, the police arrived. But they were still not dispersing and asking us to come down. Then we locked ourselves in our rooms to feel safe.”Saira (Name Changed)
She says there has been constant and heavy police deployment near her hostel and no violence has been reported, although their movements outside the hostel was immensely restricted.
“They were saying we are safe in our hostels, but we couldn’t go outside. Even going out in our balcony wasn’t allowed. So we thought we’ll come home till everything calms down.”Saira (Name Changed)
Had Deployed Police Beforehand to Ensure Safety of Kashmiri Students Post Pulwama Attack: SSP
Nivedita Kukretri, Senior Superintendent of Police, too corroborated the sequence of events and said, “In anticipation of violence after the Pulwama attack... since the state has a lot of people in the army, in the CRPF or in the paramilitary... there was a heavy deployment of police wherever there were Kashmiri students.”
‘No Regrets’: Shehla Rashid Reacts to FIR Against Her
JNU student leader Shehla Rashid, who was one of the first persons to tweet about the incident, was booked later for ‘spreading rumour and fear’.
Speaking to The Quint, Shehla Rashid said, “I do not regret what I did. Why is Uttarakhand police on Twitter in the first place? Are they there to make friends? Quite clearly not. They are to handle distress situations. And in some situations, the police response is very meek unless you embarrass them on Twitter/social media. Then they get to act. If we need to do it all over again, we'll do it all over again.”
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)