Sedition charge against 66 Kashmiri students withdrawn, Lashkar chief, Pakistan jump into fray

The Kashmiri students said, they now want to study in the valley. They alleged that after they cheered the Pakistani team on Sunday night during the Asia Cup match, there were protests by some groups the next day.

"We were asked by the university authorities to vacate the hostel. We were taken out of the university and dropped at the railway station. We had no money in our pockets, we were not allowed to take our belongings", said one of the students.  

Subharati University B K Garg however said: "There were only five or six students who were involved in sloganeering and violence on the campus. We had suspended 68 students because they had refused to divulge the names of those students. There are more than 250 Kashmiri students on our rolls in several courses. We will provide to the police the names of all Kashmiri students. The police can interrogate them to find out he culprits. But we want the students to mend their ways and concentrate of their careers."

These Kashmiri students are studying in UP as part of the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme for Kashmiri students launched in 2011 as part of Rs 1,200-crore package to study medical, engineering and other courses in colleges across India.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah slammed the action as uncalled for and an "unacceptably harsh punishment" and said it will ruin the future of the students and further alienate them. He asked the UP government to reverse the decision.

The minimum punishment for a sedition offence is three years and the maximum is life sentence.