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22 February 2019•Update: 23 February 2019
By Ahmad Adil and Zahid Rafiq
CHANDIGARH, India/ SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir
India's Supreme Court on Friday asked authorities to protect Kashmiris across the country who are facing harassment and mob attacks, following a deadly suicide bombing targeting Indian troops earlier this month.
The top court issued notices to the central government and 10 states from where the incidents were reported, broadcaster NDTV reported.
An explosive-laden vehicle rammed into a paramilitary bus along the Jammu-Kashmir highway on Feb. 14 killing 40 troops, according to officials.
Jaish-e-Mohammad, a militant group, claimed responsibility for the worst attack in decades in the insurgency hit region.
India blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge Islamabad denied, offering to open investigation if "actionable evidence" is provided by New Delhi.
The Indian government on Thursday refused there were any attacks on Kashmiris in the aftermath of the bombing, as scores of Kashmiri students have reportedly been suspended from various colleges in India, with a few colleges clearly stating that they would deny admission to Kashmiris.
"There is no threat to Kashmiri students as it is being made out to be. Countrymen are angry because of the Pulwama attack but no Kashmiri student has been assaulted following that," Prakash Javadekar, India’s Union Minister of Human Resource Development, told reporters, according to news agency Press Trust of India.
Tathagata Roy, governor of Meghalaya, a northeastern state, earlier this week had called for a complete boycott of Kashmiri products, drawing sharp criticism from various politicians who said that Roy had abused his constitutional position by stoking passions further.
- Mob attacks
Meanwhile, videos of mobs harassing and beating Kashmiri students have gone viral on social media.
Asrar Ahmad, 22, a student at Ganpati Institute of Technology and Management in the northern state of Haryana, told Anadolu Agency that he fears for his life. The institute has around 40 students from Jammu and Kashmir.
“After the attack, a group of locals had come here. But the institute didn’t allow them to enter inside our Institute,” says Asrar, a resident of Kashmir’s Budgam district.
“We have been advised by teachers to stay indoors for 15 days. The situation is tense outside and a video has been circulated by the locals warning the Kashmiris to leave the town within a week. ”
Another student from Kashmir studying in a college in the northern state of Uttarakhand, said that he was returning home on Saturday.
“There is fear among students and a large number of students have left their college because of the situation. The students are scared because of the ultimatum given by the right-wing activists,” says Nasir Khuhami, spokesperson of Jammu Kashmir Students Organisation, a group representing Kashmiri students in India.
The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, however, have said that they have appointed officers in parts of the country for those students who need help.
- Insurgency
Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.
Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.
Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
