Don't pay heed to any rumours: Kashmir administration to students

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday asked students outside the state to not pay heed to any rumours and try to stay put at their respective places, asserting that the local administration and college authorities have given full assurance of support, help and protection to them.

The Liaison Officers (LOs) in various states are in constant touch with local administrations and college authorities to ensure that the students from the state are not put to any inconvenience, an official statement said.

"The state administration is advising all the students and their parents, not to pay heed to any rumours, try to stay put at their respective places and contact the LOs or local police administration for any help. The mobile numbers of LOs have already been distributed among the students," a spokesman said.

He said the state administration assures that due cognizance is being taken for each and every call from the students and their parents and local administration is being apprised of the situation.

"The local administration and college authorities of all the locations have given full assurance of complete support, help and safety of the students," he said.

In the aftermath of the terror attack on a CRPF convoy at Lethpora on Thursday, which left 40 jawans dead, there have been reports of alleged harassment of Kashmiri students studying outside the state.

The state administration has already appointed Liaison Officers at six regions in the country including Delhi NCR-Meerut, Jaipur-Bhopal, Chandigarh, Aligarh, Bengaluru and Pune in order to coordinate with the students studying in and around these areas.

"The students in these regions have been advised to get in touch with these LOs in case they face any problem. These LOs are supposed to coordinate with respective college authorities and local administration in case there is any issue to be resolved," the spokesman said.

He said since these Liaison Officers have already been in place for the last three months, all of them have circulated their respective contact numbers to the students and colleges of these regions and some of them have already met many of the college authorities for better coordination.

"There have been media reports of alleged mischievous WhatsApp chats by some of the miscreants, reports of candle marches and other marches in these regions by the local people, alleged rumours of some of landlords asking their respective tenant students to vacate the houses, resulting in a sense of insecurity and fear among the students.

"Responding to this, the LOs of respective regions have been taking necessary steps in the last two days to help the students. Similarly, control rooms and helplines have also been established in the office of the divisional commissioner, Kashmir," the spokesman said.

The spokesman said some of the incidents handled by Liaison Officers include the one at Maharaishi Narkendeshwar Mullana University, Ambala, where 104 students who were staying in PGs have been accommodated in three hostels of the varsity and these hostels are well guarded by the police as confirmed by local station house officer.

This region is being coordinated by LO-Chandigarh.

Another incident handled by LO-Chandigarh has been of Ganpati Institute, Bilaspur. The director of the institute has been spoken to and he has assured full safety and police protection for the hostels there, he said.

Further, he said there have been lot of calls from students in Dehradun, for whom the coordination is being done by LO-Delhi NCR.

"There have been numerous calls from students of different colleges including Baba Farid Institute of Tech, Alpine Institute, Dolphin Institute, SBS Medical College and so on so forth."

He said the college authorities have assured that in case the outside students are facing any problem they can be accommodated temporarily in their respective hostels.

Some of the students from Dehradun have reached Delhi yesterday evening and they have been accommodated in J&K House, Chanakyapuri, he said.

He said around 100 students from Sailakui (Dehradun) have gathered in Rampur. A visit by SHO and LO has been arranged at the place and both of them assured their safety and security.

LO-Jaipur has confirmed that the situation in Pacific University, Udaipur is calm and safe, he said, adding that the students have been advised not venture out of the campus and the police commissioner and SP has visited the campus.

-PTI