By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar: A day after the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, President, Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union, by Delhi Police in connection with Afzal Guru’s event and subsequent anti-India slogans inside the JNU campus, leaders and students of Kashmir stood in solidarity with Kumar.
The arrest has become a talking point among people in Kashmir, who see it as a sign of solidarity from the Indian Intelligentsia class with regards to the step-motherly treatment meted out to Kashmiri students and prisoners.
The separatists too jumped into the fray and aimed their guns at center for coming down heavily on JNU students.
Syed Ali Geelani, Chairperson, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (G), issued a statement condemning the government action, calling it totally “against the democratic claims of India and against the freedom of expression.”
“It has no constitutional and legal justification. The students of JNU held a peaceful protest demonstration to express their solidarity with the Kashmiri nation and it is not any crime. Many prominent leaders of India and human rights activists had raised questions over the secret hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru and had termed it as a judicial murder,” Geelani was quoted by a Valley-based magazine Kashmir Life.
“If the students in JNU also express their concern, then how can it be termed as a crime? Detention of JNU Student’s Union president and slapping of sedition against him is completely a grave injustice with him and this injustice cannot be tolerated in any way,” he added.
On Friday, the JNUSU president was arrested following police claims that he was seen in a purported video raising anti-national slogans. Kumar was picked up from the campus by two policemen in plain clothes. This came after Delhi Police registered a case of sedition in connection with an event at JNU against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The FIR was filed following complaints by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maheish Girri and the ABVP’s student wing. A case was registered under Sections of 124 A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC against unknown persons at Vasant Kunj (North) Police station.
The Centre had also stepped into the raging controversy on Friday morning after the Home Minister, Rajnath Singh directed the police to take action against those raising anti-national slogans which is seen as a possible reason for crackdown on the JNU students.
For Usman Farooq Mir, a Kashmiri Graduate preparing for UPSC, the arrest of JNU president shows extension of Indian govt. policies in Kashmir to the Students in Delhi.
“This used to happen with Kashmiri students in Kashmir when they used to raise their voices but it is surprising to see it in Delhi. The arrest of JNUSU President is also going to malign India image internationally for being the world’s largest democratic country. Does speaking out against country wrong doings amounts to sedition?” he asked.
Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) chairperson Aasiyeh Andrabi also joined the fray to condemn the arrest of, Kanhaiya Kumar.
“By harassing all those who stand for truth, India is actually trying to stop the sun shining in the world which, however, it is not possible. The student leaders’ arrest is highly condemnable. On one hand India claims to be the largest democracy of the world and on the other hand it curbs the freedom of expression and wants to stop everybody from speaking truth. Anybody who has a clear and truthful heart can stand for truth anywhere and that is exactly what JNU students did by standing for the justice,” Aasiyeh said in a statement.
“Instead of filing fake cases against these future leaders, India should be thankful to them that they want to show them a way out of the mess India is trapped in because of its stubbornness and rigidness” she added.