Do not pay heed to rumours, contact Liaison Officers for help: J&K govt to Kashmiri students

He said, in the aftermath of Lethpora incident, there have been certain reports of alleged harassment of students from Jammu and Kashmir studying outside the state.

The state government has already appointed Liaison Officers at 6 regions across the country including Delhi NCR- Meerut, Jaipur-Bhopal, Chandigarh, Aligarh, Bengaluru, Pune in order to coordinate with the students of J&K studying in and around these regions, the spokesperson said. 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. Since these LOs have already been in place for last 3 months, all of them have already circulated their respective contact numbers to students and colleges of these regions and some of them have already met many of the college authorities also for building 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 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/helplines have also been established in the office of the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir. The LOs immediately got in touch with the students, the college authorities and the local administration so as to ensure safety and security of the students, the spokesperson said.

Some of the incidents handled by LOs include one at Maharaishi Narkendeshwar Mullana University, Ambala, where 104 students who were staying in PG locations have been accommodated in three hostels of University and these hostels are well guarded by the police as confirmed by local SHO. 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 was apprised of the issue for which he has assured full safety and police protection for hostels.

Further there have been lot of calls from Dehradun students, 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 among others. Regarding Baba Farid Institute, the LO has been assured by the College Administration and SHO PS Premnagar that no untoward incident has happened so far and the situation is normal. The college authorities have guaranteed 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 reached Delhi last evening and have been accommodated in J&K House Chanakyapuri.

Further, around 100 students from Sailakui (Dehradun) gathered in Rampur and a visit by SHO and CO made them feel positive regarding their safety and security.

The Liaison Officer Jaipur has also confirmed that the situation in Pacific University Udaipur is calm and safe. The students have been advised not venture out of the campus. The Police Commissioner and SP also visited the campus, according to the spokesperson, adding that the State Administration assures people of J&K that due cognizance is being taken for each and every call from the students and their parents and local administration is being informed of any development. The local administration and college authorities of all the locations have given full assurance of complete support, help and safety of the students.