A cricket match between Pakistan and India is an occasion which is relished
by the fans of both countries. Tension is created and emotions run high and
the fans of the winning side celebrate crazily. However such a celebration
became very costly for a group of Kashmiri students studying in Swami
Vivekenand Subharti University in Uttarpradesh.
The university decided to indefinitely suspend 67 students belonging to Kashmir when they
celebrated Pakistan’s win and Shouted “Pakistan Zindabad”. The incident occurred at the Madan
Dhingra Hostel where the students were viewing the match. According to reports the celebrations
of the Kashmiri students were causing anger among the local students who started abusing them
and threatened to hurt them.
The Final straw came when after the match they shouted slogans and this caused an eruption
among the local sore losers who trashed the rooms of the students while some reported the issue
to the management. An inquiry committee heard the issue and instead of punishing the students,
who were shouting slogans, decided to suspend all of the Kashmiri’s in the hostel for not giving
the names of the culprits.
The university officials also conveniently dismissed the role of the local students and gave out no
further punishments. This incident highlights the level of intolerance in India which is a so called
free country but where even such a small matter as supporting a sports team is blown out of
proportions and taken as a threat. A senior official has ordered an inquiry into the matter by the
city magistrate. Let’s hope he wasn’t hurt so badly by Shahid Afridi’s sixes.