By Hanan Zaffar
NEW DELHI: Students in Jamia Millia Islamia today raised Palestinian flags on the campus as the protests against alleged manhandling thrashing and issuance of show cause notices to students who protested against Israeli participation in an event hosted by the university.
On October 13, five students- Sumedha and Gohar belonging to AISA and other three students Arjun, Abu Darda and Anas from DISSC were served notice by Proctorial Department of the University after participating in a protest demonstration on October 5th against the event “Global Health Zenith: Confluence’19” organised by the Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics. This event was carried out in collaboration with Israel as a country partner.
“We all are aware of the Human Rights violation being committed by Israeli occupation forces in Palestine and we felt it our responsibility to oppose Israel backed event on campus,” a statement released by the protesting students reads.
The students claim they had peacefully protested to express their disassociation with the invitation to Israel on the campus but the protesters were physically assaulted by the University’s security guards and members of Proctorial team. The protestors demand the withdrawal of the show cause notices and a formal apology from the administration.
“The administration is not even caring to reach out to us. So far no one has even tried to address our genuine grievances,” said Anas, one of the protesting student.
“The current VC is taking dictations from RSS and we won’t allow that. We have right to protest against anyone especially against a country which is involved in grave Human Rights Violations,” said another student speaking on the condition of anonymity. The students are protesting since October 13 near the Central Canteen of the University.
“From the vocal support given to Palestine by the Jamia’s founding fathers to the commemoration of figures like Yasser Arafat and Edward Said by naming conference halls after them Jamia has always retained a deep solidarity with the struggle of Palestinian people. The administration that slanders against us and accuses us of tarnishing Jamia’s image is itself selling off the legacy of our founding fathers,” the statement further reads
The protesting students have pledged to continue protests till their demands are met. “To uphold Campus Democracy and stand with idea of University we are going on an indefinite sit-in on the campus,” said Mudasir Ahmad, a protesting student .