Of the 2,500 candidates, only 30% appeared for the exams on Monday. However, the NIT registrar says that these students have opted for the second option and will return,
A large posse of police and paramilitary forces stand guard as a steady stream of cabs carrying non- local students leave the National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus at regular intervals.
Just a few hundred metres away, local Kashmiri students are busy writing their exams in quiet and peaceful environs, unmindful of the hectic activities in the hostels nearby.
Of the 2,500 candidates, only 30% appeared for the exams on Monday. Non-local students boycotted the exams and preferred to leave for homes, since they have the option of appearing in the second exams at later dates. There are over 2,700 students enrolled in different courses at NIT, of whom 30 per cent are Kashmiris.
The ministry of human resource development (MHRD) had given students the option of separate exams at a later date, if they want to go home. The NIT registrar says these students have opted for the second option and will return,
“Non-local students have decided to stay away from the exams because our demands have not been met. All the non local students have decided to go home. Around 1,500- 2,000 students are leaving for their homes. We have been told our exams will be held later,” said Rahul, a non-local student, who was among the first batch to leave.
Officials said around 1,200 non-local students have applied for home visit before appearing for exams. Around 500 non-local students left the campus by late afternoon. The NIT administration had arranged air travel for two injured students.
“It is a compulsory exam for all students. It is the first of the three exams held every semester. Nearly 2,500 students had to appear for the exams but only 30 per cent appeared. The students who did not appear have opted for the second option,” Professor Fayaz Ahmad Mir, NIT registrat, told dna.
Mir said the second exams will be held once they return and join classes. “After the exams, there are some off days. Later, we are organising a sports week. Till then, students who have gone home can avail the holidays. Once they come back, exams will be held,” he said.
Non-local students, however, are firm. “We stand by our demands that the NIT should be shifted and that action against the administration and police for the lathi-charge should be taken. None of our demands have been accepted,” said Rahul.
What added another dimension to the crisis was the sudden appearance of the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena (BSKS) leader Tajender Singh Bagga outside the NIT campus here.
Bagga and dozens of workers were stopped and repatriated from Lakhanpur in Kathua district when they entered Jammu and Kashmir from Madhopur, Punjab, on Saturday night.
On Monday afternoon, Bagga surfaced near the NIT and chanted Bharat Mata Ki Jai and tried to enter the campus. The police detained Bagga.
Protests also rocked Jammu, with ABVP activists stopping the car of J&K DGP K Rajendra Kumar near the Jammu University. Kumar tried hard to pacify the students, who were chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vande Matram.
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