Students despondent as colleges in Valley remain shut to avoid protests
SRINAGAR:There is an eerie silence in the Government College for Women in Lal Cowk, the heart of Kashmir’s summer capital at a time when it should be buzzing with activity.
The college gate is locked from inside with no one in the class rooms. A handful of students who have gathered outside the gate are asked to return homes.
The college, whose students add to the hustle and bustle of Srinagar’s business hub, was full of life on Saturday.
The students were making a beeline to the college to complete their admission process. But Monday’s massive protests by students across the Valley, including at Women’s College, prompted government to shut down colleges for two days as a “precautionary measure”.
“Suddenly things are looking bad when everything had started fine. It seems a repeat of 2016,” said a professor of the Women’s College.
Monday’s protests were against the alleged excesses by security forces on Saturday against students at the Government Degree College in Pulwama, some 30 km from Srinagar.
People say that the scale of Monday’s protests were unprecedented as thousands of students across the Valley came out on the streets without any call from any prominent separatist organisation.
The call for protests had come from banned Kashmir University Students Union.
Saturday’s crackdown came on the heels of the April 9 violence that left eight civilians dead in clashes with security forces dur- ing the bypoll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.
The polling percentage was recorded at mere 7.13%, one of the lowest turnouts in decades.
The unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July last year, also closed the schools and colleges of the Valley for more than four months when government announced winter vacations for another three months which ended in February this year.
Now, just when the academic session was resuming, thousands of students across the colleges of Kashmir came out protesting on Monday against the police action on fellow students in Pulwama.
Meanwhile, according to the divisional commissioner Kashmir, teaching work in all colleges of Kashmir division shall remain suspended on Tursday and Friday, as a precautionary measure.