“Country And I Concerned About Jamia Students”: Irfan Pathan

Cricketer Irfan Pathan has said he is concerned about the students of Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia, where violence erupted on Sunday during a protest against the new citizenship law.

“Political blame game will go on forever but I and our country is concerned about the students of Jamia Millia,” he tweeted.

The trouble started Sunday evening after a protest march by the Jamia students ended in a pitched battle with the police, vandalism and torching of vehicles.

The police, which used batons and teargas to contain the violence, later barged into the university and detained around 100 students. All the detained students were released around 3:30 am.

The police crackdown at Jamia also triggered violent protests at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). In the ensuing clashes, ten policemen and around 30 students were injured. As precautionary measures, the campus has been closed till next month and internet has been suspended.

Students at Hyderabad’s Maulana Azad Urdu University and the Banaras Hindu University held protest marches in solidarity with Jamia students on Sunday.At Kolkata’s Jadavpur University, the students held a midnight march through the neighbourhood. Students of the Maulana Azad Urdu University also demanded that their exams be postponed.

The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was passed earlier this week, after a heated debate in parliament, triggering massive protests in the northeast states and West Bengal.