Government Degree College Pulwama to remain closed for two days

Pulwama: District Administration Pulwama Sunday issued an order to close Government Degree College Pulwama for two days i.e, 17th and 18th April, 2017.

The order has been issued after more than fifty college students were injured in security force’s action in the college when clashes erupted in the college campus on Saturday.

“Following the clashes that broke out between the forces personnel and the students of Government Degree College Pulwama on 15th April, 2017, wherein numerous students have reportedly been injured, the Principal Degree College Pulwama as well as the students are being informed not to attend the college on 17th and 18th of April, 2017 as the college will remain closed on the said days,” public notice issued by the District Magistrate Pulwama read.

Meanwhile, Kashmir University Students’ Union (KUSU) has condemned the violence in the college as an act to break the will of youth of Kashmir and has called for a protest on Monday.

In a statement, KUSU said that the act is an eye opener about the nature of the state apparatus.

“The savagery inflicted on students isn’t only a display of the basic lack of regard for the sanctity of educational institutions, but is meant, as part of the oppression unleashed on yet another generation of Kashmiris, to humiliate and break the will of the youth of the Valley who are at the forefront of the struggle for right to self-determination,” read the statement issued by the banned students union.

Lashing out at state government, KUSU in its statement asked, “Is there anything more absurd than a state which claims, when there is an uprising, that the education of our children is suffering and then the same state is keeping up its gory traditions of killing, arresting, maiming and beating up those children; giving free reign to marauding Indian forces to occupy those educational institutions and attack them?”

“The resistance by the students in Degree College Pulwama, despite the brutal methods used against them – with over 50 students, including girls injured by Indian forces – is also a symbol of the Kashmiri spirit to stay determined in the face of overwhelming force and repression”, KUSU lauded the students.

The statement further said that KUSU stands in solidarity with the students in Pulwama, and across the state, and reiterates its demand for the right to self-determination in J&K, according to UN resolutions.

KUSU has called for a protest against the violence perpetrated by security forces on students on Monday. “The peaceful protest should be held in all the educational institutions, including Colleges, other university campuses, including in the Pir Panjal region”, the statement said.