Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik said on Wednesday that the country’s fight is with Pakistan and terrorists and not with Kashmiris.
Mr. Malik attributed the return of Kashmiri students from across institutions in north India to a sense of insecurity and not due to any serious physical violence.
Asked why over 300 students had returned to the Valley, Mr. Malik told The Hindu, “They are returning because their colleges are shut. May be some feel insecure. We have made arrangements for their stay and travel.”
Apprehending physical and verbal attacks from some groups in the wake of the Pulwama attack, Kashmiri students from various colleges across north India, mostly from Dehradun in Uttarakhand, returned to the Valley.
Mr. Malik said around 1,200 students from Kashmir are studying in Aligarh Muslim University and none of them have come back.
“We appointed 11 liaison officers across the country for the welfare of Kashmiri students last year. Our fight is with Pakistan and terrorists. Some political leaders want to use the incident (of students fleeing) to fuel a communal divide. There were many attempts to deliberately stoke the issue but we didn’t let anything happen,” said Mr. Malik.
He said the Army, the police and the Central Armed Police Forces were working in synergy and it was bringing good results.
“Officers are leading from the front. Their morale is high and they are not putting the personnel in the front to face the bullets. The Brigadier who was injured in the Pulwama encounter on Thursday had cancelled his leave,” he said.