Roused by the incident in which posters with anti-national slogans were found pasted on wall of HNB Garhwal University administration block on Wednesday, the university administration has set up a three member inquiry committee.
On Wednesday morning the university employees were shocked to see a strip pasted on a wall on which anti-national slogans were scribbled. The matter was reported to the university registrar AK Jha who informed the police. The in-charge of the Srinagar police station confiscated the strip. It is learnt that someone scribbled anti India slogans also mentioning Pakistan. These slogans were written on the back of an ATM transaction slip.
When contacted, the pro vice chancellor of the university D S Negi told The Pioneer that a three member committee comprising of the registrar, proctor and dean of student welfare (DSW) has been set up to investigate the matter. He said that an FIR has also been lodged in the Srinagar Kotwali.
The students of the only central university of the state are agitated at the incident. The former president of the university and state vice president of Akhil Bharatiya
Vidhyarthi Parishad, Shailesh Malasi averred that the activities of the Kashmiri students in the university are suspicious. He said, "There are more than 250 Kashmiri students enrolled in PG courses of the university and most of them do not attend the Independence Day and Republic Day functions. The university is a central university so there is a provision of two per cent reservation for Kashmiri students and most of these students don’t mix with the locals. We have met the sub divisional magistrate and vice chancellor and demanded that thorough investigation should be conducted in the matter and if the culprits are not identified and arrested within next three days the ABVP would start an agitation. We would not allow the university to become a hotbed of anti national elements like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU),’’ he said.
Another former president of the university students union, Divyanshu Bahuguna however said that the Kashmiri students are well behaved and should not be targeted unfairly. “The incident is extremely unfortunate. It appears as if someone has made a deliberate and mischievous attempt to malign the image of the university,’’ he said.
A student on condition of anonymity did not rule out the mischief of some students belonging to radical left wing organisations which are making their presence felt on campus.