Kashmiri students expelled for cheering Pakistan team

Over 60 students from the Indian-administered Kashmir have been expelled from their university in Uttar Pradesh state and briefly threatened with sedition charges over cheering for Pakistan’s cricket team during a televised match against India.

Police announced the expulsion of the 66 students on Thursday while several of the students denounced the move as discrimination.

“We didn’t do anything illegal,” said Muteebul Majid, a business administration student, adding, “Are they slapping these charges against us for being Kashmiris or for cheering for the Pakistani team?”

“They (local students) attacked us with stones and abuse after the match. Instead of taking action against their hooliganism, police bused us to the railway station and directed us to go home,” Gulzar Ahmed, also a business administration student, said.

The development comes as Indian authorities said the sedition charges against the students, which carry a possible life sentence, were dropped late Thursday.

The students had been living in the dorms at the College of Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, in Uttar Pradesh state, some 560 miles (900 kilometers) from their homes in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said if the students want to pursue their studies in Pakistan “our hearts and academic institutions are open to them.”

Kashmir lies at the heart of more than 60 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both neighbors claim the region in full, but have partial control over it.

The neighbors agreed on a ceasefire in 2003 and launched a peace process the following year. Since then, there have been sporadic clashes, with both sides accusing the other of violating the ceasefire.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947 — two of them over Kashmir.