NIT Srinagar students want campus to be shifted out of J&K

Srinagar: In a congested hall of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) of Srinagar, students on Wednesday told visiting personnel of the Centre’s education ministry that they wanted the institute to be shifted out of the state.

They also demanded action against the policemen who lathi-charged the student protesters on Tuesday.

Irked students demanded the police to withdraw the accusation of pelting stones at them, which, the pupils claimed, was absolutely false. They had also objected to the police action being called a ‘mild lathi-charge’ by the Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Nirmal Singh and alleged that several injured students had to undergo surgeries.

Highlights:

• The students alleged that the police had assaulted them during a silent march and took away the national flag from them.
• “We want our national tricolour back from the police,” uttered a student amid loud cheers from fellows.
• "Police officers who lathi-charged the students will definitely be punished. I was told it was a 'mild lathi-charge’ which made me use that term earlier," said Singh in a statement.
• The students have demanded to postpone the exams schedule and allow them to go home.

The matter:

The non-Kashmiri students of NIT protested at the institute's gate when they were prevented from leaving the campus on Tuesday last. The police lathi-charged the student protesters, leaving many of them badly injured. The police had alleged that the students first attacked the cops with stones.