Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday condemned the alleged mistreatment of Kashmiri students in parts of the country in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack and questioned whose purpose was being served by “ostracising Kashmiris”.
On Saturday, Kashmiri students in Uttar Pradesh, Dehradun and Haryana had complained of being harassed and threatened following the terror attack in South Kashmir.
In a series of tweets, Abdullah said Kashmiri students studying outside the state should have been feted for staying away from the politics and conflict in Kashmir, “choosing instead to make a future for themselves”.
“By attacking them [students], terrorising them [and] forcing them to find shelter they are being told there is no place for them outside the valley [and] no future in the mainland,” Abdullah tweeted.
Abdullah said: “Those hotheads that make up the mobs doing this damage need to ask themselves (if they have the mental bandwidth) whose purpose is served by ostracising Kashmiris. Our enemies [and] those who back terrorism in J&K have been trying to drive this wedge so please please let’s not do their job for them. Kashmir isn’t just a piece of land it’s the people that inhabit it.”
The National Conference leader and former chief minister had met Union minister Rajnath Singh on February 16 and sought intervention to ensure safety of Kashmiri students and traders living in different parts of the country.
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