Srinagar: The National Institute of Technology (NIT)in Srinagar, will have a review meeting on Saturday to decide whether to re-open the institute on Monday or not.
The institute was closed on Friday after violent clashes between the Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri students in Srinagar following India's T20 World Cup semi final loss to West Indies.
The clashes have forced authorities to shut down the campus indefinitely and the local students were asked to vacate their hostels.
Speaking to CNN-IBN, NIT Registrar Professor Fayaz Mir said, "It was an unfortunate incident. On Saturday, we will have a review meeting and to decide whether to re-open the institute on Monday or not. To avoid further clash, we have asked the local students to vacate their hostels."
On Friday night, a large number of local students were seen boarding the state buses for their respective villages. They raised slogans against the institute's authorities for allowing the non-local students to stay in the hostels.
Sources said the trouble started on Thursday night when some of the Kashmiri students celebrated the West Indies victory. "The celebrations did not go down well with non-local students and a verbal fight ensued. However, the situation was under control," said a student who pleaded anonymity.
But the issue flared up again on Friday afternoon with more than 500 non-local students outnumbering 70 Kashmiri students and leaving at least 3 of them injured.
A teacher who tried to intervene was also injured while a delivery boy of a courier company suffered damage to his arm.
"After we finished our Friday prayers, non-Kashmiri students took out a march in the NIT campus damaging classroom infrastructure. They were shouting anti-Pakistan and pro-India slogans," the Kashmiri students said.
The non-Kashmiri students roughed up the locals, harassed teachers when they tried to intervene and smashed glass panes, they alleged. They also reportedly tried to hoist the tricolour and block entry to the campus.
A non-local boy said they hoisted the flag after grave provocation from the local students. "They pelted stones on our hostel at around 2 in the night. Next morning, we took up the issue with the director of the institute. He did not take immediate action. On Friday, we protested the inaction and in between clashes broke out between the students", he said.
Following this, the hostel was closed down and the students asked to vacate. Later on Friday evening, Kashmiri students held a demonstration outside the NIT's administration block seeking action against the alleged attackers.
Police, meanwhile has been asked to stay close to the campus and not to allow the students to clash.
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