Dehradun: Six Kashmiri students were sitting outside the closed doors of Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun under the clock of Dim Fludlights and two security guards in the calm hours before dawn on Thursday morning. They arrived around 3:30 am, after watching a video, ran away from their hostel in nervousness, in which one person warned that all Kashmiri Muslims would have to face Uttarakhand at 10 am or “treatment”. They were waiting until the terminal was opened after two hours, did not sleep and was uncertain what to do next, before they run before their escape.
In the video, the man, Lalit Sharma of the Hindu Raksha Dal released a time limit and said, “We will start from Dehradun … We will not wait for the government’s response …” Their message spread quickly, enhanced by social media. For Kashmiri students, already living in uncomfortable shadow after a terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, this danger was real.
One of the students enrolled at a paramedic program in a private institute in the city said that the danger spirit began that day. “A faculty member came to our room in the afternoon. He said that there was an input that some people could come in search of us on Thursday.” The suggestion was temporarily going to a ‘safe house’. But as the hours passed, and the video broadcast widely, fear took care. The students called the CEO of the college, booked flights, and hired a taxi at the airport. They did not stop to pack well.
By Thursday afternoon, about 20 more Kashmiri students had reached the airport, most of them arranged their own departure. “Our exam was over anyway,” the student said, “Summer holiday is starting. We are never coming back soon.” None of them wanted to take a name.
