J K Students Association (J&KSA) Wednesday said that the authorities in Karnataka have withdrawn it’s order of profiling Kashmiri students.
In a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), National Spokesperson of JKSA said that,l the association recieved several calls from Kashmiri students, wherein they said that authorities in number of colleges in Karnataka have started taking details of Kashmiri students.
The details sought included current address, permanent address, email address and mobile number, along with details of courses, he said.
He said that they took up the issue with DGP Karnataka and Police Praveen Sood and Bangalore City Police Commissioner Kamal Panth. They Clarified it that details of only foreign students were being collected and it was incorrectly assumed that details from students from J&K also needs to be collected, he said.
“We have not asked for any such details in any of the institutions across the state, they clarified. DGP assured that, state Police is committed to the safety & security of all students from Kashmir valley. Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said that the police department stands with students studying in Bengaluru irrespective of their state of origin,” he said.
Quoting Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Nasir Khuehami said he also informed that, we have not issued any directions for collecting such details. We don’t have to ask also, we have details of all students with us. Such data collection is not correct, he said.
He, however, said that after intervening in the matter, it was found that the details have been demanded by the Internal Security Division (ISD) of Karnataka police since the beginning of February 2022. IPS officer from ISD confirmed that the details of Kashmiri students have been collected for years now, for “national security”. We are taking details for the internal security of the country and keep the country safe. This has been done in the past many a times as well and claimed it as routine and normal exercise, khuehami added while quoting Senior IPS officer from ISD Karnataka.
After requesting them to withraw the circular, since it has led to fear among Kashmiri students in the state, we have been assured and told that exercise will stop onwards now. No sort of profiling will be done in any Institution. Students studying in different institutions should not feel worried now, he added—(KNO)