Government rushes closure of Kashmir universities

Thousands of students in Indian administered Kashmir were surprised as the government announced a 10-day summer vacation for schools, colleges and universities starting 6 July.

The vacation, usually announced annually for the second half of July when the temperature goes above 33 degrees, was brought forward, to end on 15 July, despite temperatures in the Kashmir capital Srinagar hovering around a pleasant 27 to 31 degrees Celsius.

“The summer vacation is usually declared when it gets very hot. However, this year the temperatures are found to be comparatively moderate,” noted Er Rasheed, an independent lawmaker of Kashmir.

Institutions of learning were shut and young people in student accommodation asked to moved back home.

The Higher Education Department’s baffling order had little to do with the weather, and more to do with the security situation, with 8 July marking the first anniversary of the death of popular rebel commander Burhan Wani, which last year pushed Kashmir into five months of curfews, demonstrations and shutdowns. Some 90 civilians including a number of college students were killed in a spate of protests.

The United Jihad Council or UJC, an umbrella organisation formed by Pakistan to oversee dozens of rebel organisations fighting against Indian rule, has issued a call for protests starting on 8 July. UJC chairman Syed Sallahudin – designated a global terrorist by the US administration – had asked the people to come onto the streets to protest.

He called for a general strike to be observed in the state on 8 July to pay tribute to Burhan, followed by a complete shutdown on 13 July known as Martyrs' Day in Kashmir.

The closure of colleges at this juncture in the name of summer vacations is the first of its kind. Earlier, closure was due to strikes, curfews or direct orders from government to suspend classes for law and order reasons.

“Since the UJC chief has announced a series of events and programmes to mark the first anniversary of the death of renowned militant commander Burhan Wani, the government, finding itself short of options to deal with the issue, has decided to close the educational institutions in the name of summer vacations,” Er Rasheed said.

According to official figures, some 84,811 students are enrolled in various colleges in Kashmir and a majority of students have been at the centre stage of protests in the past year.

Colleges and universities are still adorned with pro-freedom graffiti praising Burhan, and institutions had become the hub of protests triggered by an army raid on a college in Pulwama district of South Kashmir earlier this year.

The colleges were closed due to shutdowns and curfews for 130 days in 2016 and this year too they have been closed intermittently for around a month.

On 5 July dozens of bikes, many of which belonged to students, were seized by government forces in South Kashmir, fearing youth may organise a bike rally. More than 100 bicycles were put in the police station and owners were asked to collect them after 13 July.

Citing “apprehension of misuse of internet services by anti-national elements”, the police on Thursday ordered internet service providers and operators to block all social media sites from 22:00 on the same day.

The government on Thursday deployed more than 21,000 additional central paramilitary force personnel across Kashmir to thwart possible protests. These forces are in addition to an estimated half a million army and paramilitary personnel deployed in Kashmir.