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College closed after fight over ‘cheering’ Pak cricket team.

Five students from Jammu and Kashmir have quit their engineering college in Punjab and gone back home following a clash between two groups of students in their hostel, allegedly over “cheering” the Pakistan cricket team while watching a match on TV on Tuesday night.

After closing the institute till September 8 to defuse the tension, authorities at the Swami Parmanand College of Engineering and Technology at Lalru near Mohali had asked all the students to vacate the hostel. The authorities denied the clash had anything to do with alleged “pro-Pakistan slogans”, and blamed outsiders, local workers of a political party and mediapersons for blowing the issue out of proportion.

Principal T D Sharma said, “We’ve formed a five-member committee to inquire into the cause of the clash. The incident was over by the time college authorities and police reached there. We have given a complaint to the police without naming any student. But one thing is certain: it wasn’t due to ‘pro-Pakistan’ or ‘anti-India’ slogans. The issue was sorted out that very night and on Wednesday, the police escorted all J&K students till Chandigarh, from where they departed for their homes.”

The principal confirmed that five of the J&K students have quit the college. “Five J&K students collected their documents and said they were not coming back. However, the parents of some of them called and requested us to take them back. We told them they are welcome,” Sharma said.

Eyewitnesses said the clash took place when around 50 students were watching the Pakistan-Sri Lanka one-dayer in the hostel common room. While one group of students allegedly cheered the Pakistan team, another group started “hooting” in response. An argument started, and soon the two groups got into a fight. Many other students joined in and some of them also vandalised hostel property. Twelve students from both groups were injured in the clash.

The college has students from J&K, Bihar, UP and Uttarakhand. A student from Bihar said, “It was a minor altercation which soon turned nasty. On Wednesday, the issue was politicised by outsiders who blocked the highway.”

A student from J&K said, “It wasn’t about any support to the Pakistani team. It happened while we were watching TV but the reason for the argument is not clear yet. The issue was politicised the next day by anti-social elements.”

The strength of the boys’ hostel is 500. There are two blocks, one mostly occupied by J&K students and the other by students from other states.

(Written by Hardeep S Puri & Gagandeep Singh Dhillon; (Published in Indian Express, August 29, 2014)