Kashmiri student studying at Pakistani university arrested at Srinagar airport

Asif Shabbir Naik, a Kashmiri student studying in the Department of Media Sciences at International Islamic University, Islamabad in Pakistan, was arrested by Indian authorities at Srinagar Airport on his way back from summer vacation.

According to South Asian Wire, Kashmiri student Asif Shabbir Naik is a BS student in the Department of Media Sciences at International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan where he was staying in a hostel. The entire family including his mother, brother, grandfather and uncle is present in Doda district of Jammu.

Asif, alongwith other Kashmiri students, was returning from Srinagar International Airport by Srinagar Sharjah service for his classes after summer vacation on 24 October, 2021, when Indian police arrested him and sent him to Srinagar interrogation center.

The next day, her friends informed her family, but Indian police refused to arrest him. However, later when the Indian Army, police and agencies raided his house in Doda, his family members came to know about it. Indian authorities transferred him to Jammu for interrogation. Where he is still in custody. Police have charged Asif in a case about his involvement in terrorist activities and receiving military training in Pakistan.

According to South Asian Wire, there is a special quota for Kashmiri students in Pakistan’s higher education institutions and that is why a large number of Kashmiri students enroll in Pakistan’s educational institutions, especially medical colleges, every year.

Prior to the incident, on March 17 this year, when about 80 Kashmiri students arrived at the Wagah Attari border to return to their universities and colleges in Pakistan after the holidays, they were made to wait there for several days.

Indian immigration officials first told them that their list had not reached us and then, after waiting for several hours, asked them to return, saying that they would be allowed to go to Pakistan only after the approval of the Indian Home Ministry.

Since then, the students, who numbered about 300, have knocked on every door to return to their universities and colleges in Pakistan, but have received no help from anywhere.

When some students tried to fly to Pakistan via Dubai, they were not allowed to leave. On August 17 and 18, the Kashmiri students who tried to fly to Pakistan by air were not allowed to board the plane bound for Dubai by the immigration authorities.

Kashmir Police Chief Dilbagh Singh claims that Kashmiri students who go to Pakistan for education from where they return as terrorists. However, student organizations say that such claims from the police are made without any evidence and India is destroying the future of Kashmiri students by terrorizing them.