Sedition charge against 66 Kashmiri students withdrawn, Lashkar chief, Pakistan jump into fray

Meerut/Srinagar: The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday night withdrew sedition charges levelled against 66 Kahsmiri students of Swami Vivekananda Subharati University, Meerut, for cheering the Pakistani cricket team during its match against India in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. Late Thursday night, UP Principal Secretary (Home) Navneet Sehgal said the sedition charge has been withdrawn.Meerut district authorities has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the conduct of the Kashmiri students studying at the university. The police action of booking the students under sedition charges has sparked outrage in Kashmir valley, with Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah speaking to UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to personally look into the matter. In neighbouring Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Toiba chief and mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Hafiz Saeed tweeted: "We would like to offer scholarships for these expelled students wherever in the world they want to study. Pakistani nation is proud of them" Saeed further tweeted: "Expulsion of Kashmiri students from a university & charges of sedition for supporting Pakistan in Cricket explains how democratic India is." Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson, too, jumped into the fray, remarking: "We saw Indian media reports that there were all-night celebrations and there were also reports that 67 Kashmiri students were expelled. "If these Kashmiri students want to come and pursue their studies in Pakistan, our hearts and academic institutions are open to them", said spokesperson Tasneem Aslam. The Kashmiri students said, they now want to study in the valley. They alleged that after they cheered the Pakistani team on Sunday night during the Asia Cup match, there were protests by some groups the next day. "We were asked by the university authorities to vacate the hostel. We were taken out of the university and dropped at the railway station. We had no money in our pockets, we were not allowed to take our belongings", said one of the students. Subharati University B K Garg however said: "There were only five or six students who were involved in sloganeering and violence on the campus. We had suspended 68 students because they had refused to divulge the names of those students. There are more than 250 Kashmiri students on our rolls in several courses. We will provide to the police the names of all Kashmiri students. The police can interrogate them to find out he culprits. But we want the students to mend their ways and concentrate of their careers." These Kashmiri students are studying in UP as part of the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme for Kashmiri students launched in 2011 as part of Rs 1,200-crore package to study medical, engineering and other courses in colleges across India. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah slammed the action as uncalled for and an "unacceptably harsh punishment" and said it will ruin the future of the students and further alienate them. He asked the UP government to reverse the decision.The minimum punishment for a sedition offence is three years and the maximum is life sentence.Manzoor Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of the university, said a three-member committee under a Kashmiri profressor has been set up and a decision on revocation of their suspension will be taken based on its report which is expected in a few days.On apprehensions of the Kashmiri students that they may be targeted if they return to the university, he held out an assurance that this will not happen.Omar, however, said that what the students did was wrong and misguided. "The sad fact is that some of these students are recipients of the PM scholarship for Kashmiris. Perhaps they need to introspect," he tweeted.After preliminary investigations, the authorities had expelled 60 Kashmiri students for three days and asked them to vacate the hostel after they cheered for Pakistan in the Asia Cup match in Dhaka and celebrated its victory against India on Sunday. Earlier, SSP(Meerut) Omkar Singh said that on the basis of the complaint submitted by University Chancellor PK Garg, unnamed Kashmiri students have been booked under section 124 A (sedition), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 427 (mischief) of IPC.District Magistrate Pankaj Yadav ordered a magisterial inquiry and Additional City Magistrate Rambharta Tewari has been given the charge of the case, Additional District Magistrate, Meerut, Satish Kumar Dubey said.Around 200 Kashmiri students are enrolled in B.Tech and law courses in the university.The opposition PDP in Jammu and Kashmir demanded that the punitive action including sedition charge be dropped and the University authorities apologise to the nation.Ruling National Conference voiced its anger at the action, saying the students have not harmed national integrity.Two of the students identified as Gulzar and Mateef said the FIR was "illegal" and they had done no wrong and only cheered for a "talented team". They said they won't go back to Meerut without any guarantee for their safety.