Pakistani Kashmiri demonstrators in Islamabad gather around Indian flags they had set on fire during a protest against the Indian government yesterday. Some 60 students from Indian-administered Kashmir may face sedition charges for cheering Pakistan’s victory over India in a recent cricket match, police said. Indian police were investigating the students following a complaint from university officials in India’s northern city of Meerut over celebrations following Pakistan’s win on March 2 in an Asia Cup clash. Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman said sedition charges against the students would be ”very unfortunate”.  ”If the Kashmiri students want to come and pursue their education in Pakistan, our hearts and academic institutions are open to them, ” Tasnim Aslam told reporters in Islamabad.


Agencies/Lucknow

Some 60 students from Jammu and Kashmir may face sedition charges for cheering Pakistan’s victory over India in a cricket match, police said yesterday.
Police were investigating the students following a complaint from university officials in the northern city of Meerut over celebrations following Pakistan’s win on Sunday in an Asia Cup clash.
The students, all enrolled at the Swami Vivekanand Subharti University (SVSU), have been suspended and were escorted from campus over what the vice chancellor called “unacceptable” behaviour after the match.
“The SVSU administration on Wednesday submitted a written complaint against unknown persons for indulging in anti-national activities and creating a ruckus on the university campus,” Meerut police chief Omkar Singh said.
“We have registered a case and the probe is on,” Singh said.  
“If evidence is established against the accused, there is a set legal procedure to be followed in such cases. The law will take its own course,” he said, adding that any charges would be ones of sedition.
Since 1989 Indian forces have been fighting militant groups in Kashmir seeking independence or the merger of the territory with Pakistan.
Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said any sedition charges would be too harsh.
“Sedition charge against Kashmiri students is an unacceptably harsh punishment that will ruin their futures & will further alienate them,” Abdullah said on Twitter.
“I believe what the students did was wrong & misguided but they certainly didn’t deserve to have charges of sedition slapped against them.”
The trouble began when the students were watching the game on TV in the university’s community hall. Pakistan sealed victory by one wicket when Shahid Afridi smashed two consecutive sixes.
Some of the students were accused of chanting “Pakistan zindabad (hail Pakistan)” and damaging university property during the resulting celebrations, a university official said on condition of anonymity.
“We were ordered to leave the hostel immediately and head back home. Police arrived at the college in full riot gear with tear smoke shells and lathis (canes),” said Aijaz, an engineering student.
“We had no option but to abandon the hostel. Some of us did not even have the money to pay for the train fare.
“The locals at the hostel had been shouting and hooting during the match as India looked poised for the victory,” he said.
“When the match took a different turn after Shahid Afridi’s batting, some of our friends also started shouting as a reaction. That is all we did, for which we have been punished,” Aijaz said.
Vice-chancellor Manzoor Ahmad said “he was taken aback by such an unacceptable gesture of a few students.”
“We can’t accept such behaviour from any student,” Ahmad told the Hindustan Times and other local media, adding that all of the students were suspended after they refused to reveal the wrongdoers.
Some of the students, who have since returned to Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, claimed they were attacked by fellow students offended by their celebrations, and their hostel was damaged.
“As Pakistan won the match the (hostel) warden started beating us. Later, about 400 students attacked our hostel,” Muteeb ul Majid Khan, a business student, told reporters.