Jeopardizing Peace

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Even after a fortnight, the controversy which erupted at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar is refusing to settle down.

The students are adamant with their demand of shifting the campus to some other place. In fact most of the outstation students have temporarily vacated the hostels and left for their homes after MHRD assured them that their exams can be conducted later.

Inside the four walls of sprawling camps, the anger is seething. Fortifying the institute could only ensure the temporary calm even as support continuously pours in from right wing activists from other parts of country to the agitating students escalating the crisis.

Although the state government is showing its political acumen in handling the prevailing crisis, the support from some vested interests to the agitators is hampering the efforts.

Some right wing leaders have been deported back to New Delhi from Srinagar airport to avoid any possible trouble with their visit to college. The unending crisis at NIT has jeopardized the safety of thousands of other students of the valley pursuing their careers and studies in other parts of the country.

There are already reports of harassment to the Kashmiri students and businessmen in other states. The issue has been blown out of proportion by certain sections of media besides some political and social activists based in New Delhi and elsewhere.

Therefore, the time has come for New Delhi and state government to find the solution to the ongoing crisis once and all and stop it spreading into the other parts of the country. The paramount importance for both local and central government is to ensure safety of all the students either in Kashmir or outside. That will certainly help to pave the way for the dialogue and stop the crises from deepening.

However, the crisis seems more due to administrative inferno at the campus where students have demanded that the infrastructure shall be upgraded and have also accused the faculty of being biased.  Allowing students to move out of valley is a temporary measure to defuse the crisis and once the students will be back to the college government needs to assure them that peace will prevail on the campus.  The top institute of learning was always apolitical and it must live with that character.

After the devastating deluge of 2014, the economy of Kashmir is shattered. Any news of uncertainty in valley outside can spoil its entire tourism season as already tourists in good number have started arriving with the onset of summer. It is high time for government to wake up to the issue and resolve it amicably.

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