I Realised What It Means To Be Kashmiri Outside Kashmir’

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SRINAGAR: Nasir Khuehmi, 21, of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, for him Dehra­dun was like a second home. He liked the climate, people and their hospitality. This changed after the Pulwama attack. Kashmiri students across India felt the repercussions almost immediately. Dehradun saw the worst of it. Posters outside shops read, ‘Dogs are allowed but not Kashmiris,” he said.

Fear gripped Kashmiri students in the city after 12 from among them were thrashed by mobs.

Nasir was at home in Bandipora when he heard about fellow students going into hiding. Next day, he left for Dehradun with a few friends. “We created a WhatsApp help group and received 1,700 calls over the next three days, all seeking help as right-wing elements were hounding them,” he says. “Girls were crying for help, it made my heart sink. That day I realised what it means to be a Kashmiri outside Kashmir.”

Nasir says the police were helpful when he and his friends sought their assistance for reaching different areas to ­evacuate Kashmiri students and businessmen. “It was ­impossible to rescue students without the support that the Dehradun SSP provided,” he says.

Worried about him, Nasir’s parents called him many times. “I would always tell them I am in Srinagar, though I was in Dehradun,” he says. “The trouble in going back is that we have to be among those who didn’t waste a minute to attack us, and those who created an atmosphere against us that led to the att­acks…. But we have no other choice.”