Unruly students beat Kashmiri fellows after India-Pakistan T-20 World Cup match

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) – After India's historic loss to Pakistan in the ICC T-20 World Cup, the cricket sports frenzy spread to two campuses in the country's northern state, when unruly students attacked Muslim students from the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday evening.

The incidents occurred at Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology in Sangrur district and Rayat Bahrat University in Kharar, Mohali, in Punjab, shortly after Pakistan's historic 10-wicket victory over India's top-ranked squad in the ongoing T-20 World Cup being played in Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The students were assaulted by students from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana (states),” Nasir Khuehami, the national spokesperson for the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, claimed.

Some students from the same state came for their help, he told Anadolu Agency over the phone.

“Such incidents have increased the sense of insecurity and anxiety among Kashmiri youth studying and working outside as well as among their parents and relatives in Kashmir,” Khuehami said in a statement released by the association.

“We demand immediate arrest of all those involved in the assault on Kashmiri students and ensure adequate arrangements for the safety, security of our students,” he added.

Members of the opposing group allegedly barged into the students' hostel rooms and thrashed them. Immediately after the match, they vandalized the rooms of Kashmiri students, it added.

"The issue has been resolved," Swapan Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) for the Sangrur district, told Anadolu Agency. "Both groups have agreed not to lodge any complaints against one another and have offered apologies to the management," he said.

“They have promised that such incident will not be repeated in future. In the interest of students, we have not registered any case,” he added.