Expressing concern over reported attacks on Kashmiri students in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, senior Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday appealed people to not push Kashmiris "back into quagmire" by boycotting or thrashing them.

He said the Kashmiri youth who are studying at various universities across the country are the ones who have shunned the lure of militancy and are for joining the national mainstream.

"The young students from Kashmir, boys and girls, who have taken admission in different colleges and universities across India are the ones who do not want to join militancy in Kashmir. It means they want to study and contribute in the mainstream of India," Azad said at a press conference here.

These were the youths who have condemned militants and Pakistan and their lures of all kinds of things, including money, Azad said and added, "It means they feel safer among their countrymen. If they will be beaten up here, and persecuted by militants back home, where would they go."

He said mere advisories would not do and the state government officials must visit educational institutes and colleges and assure them. "Let them (Kashmiris) come into the mainstream. Don't push them back into the mire, these students want to escape," Azad said.

His appeal has come after reports of violence against, and calls for boycott of, Kashmiris and their businesses appeared from different parts of the country in the wake of the suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&K's Pulwama district on February 14. As many as 40 CRPF troopers were killed in the attack.

--IANS

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