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INDIA

‘Police profiling’ leads to fear among Kashmiri students in Karnataka

By News Desk

February 15, 2022

The Internal Security Division of Karnataka police have started profiling Kashmiri students studying in different colleges in India’s Southern State, Kashmir news Trust reported.

According to a report by The News minute, the Karnataka police is asking colleges in the state to profile Kashmiri students and submit their personal details to the police.

The details include students’ names, phone numbers, their present and permanent addresses.

As per the report, the details have been demanded by the Internal Security Division (ISD) of Karnataka police since the beginning of February 2022.

The City Police Commissioner Bengaluru Mr Kamal Panth categorically denied the role of police in it. He said no directions from police have gone to colleges about the profiling of Kashmiri students.

State Education Minister, Dr. CN Narayan also said that the government had not directed any college to collect personal details of Kashmiri students.

However, several Kashmiri said that they were asked to fill up their personal details on a form.

Nasir Khuehami, the spokesperson for J&K Students Association told Kashmir News Trust that the Internal Security Division (ISD) of Karnataka has endorsed that profiling of Kashmiri students is being done on their direction. “We talked to different agencies that denied such profiling of Kashmiri students, but ISD of Karnataka endorsed the claim made by the Kashmiri students.

Khuehami while saying that this development has led to fear among Kashmiri students in Karnataka quoted an ISD official as having said that this is a routine exercise and they do it every year.

Former Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir Omar Abdullah Tuesday flayed the profiling of Kashmiri students in Karnataka colleges.

“What a shame that Kashmiri students are being singled out & profiled by the authorities in Karnataka as though they are foreign nationals,” Omar Abdullah wrote on his twitter. (Inputs from KNT)