Army officer had come with seminar proposal, left amid stone-throwing

The Valley saw widespread protests on Monday over police action against students in Pulwama. Tribune file photo

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 18

Three days before violence erupted in Pulwama Degree College on Saturday, triggering Valley-wide protests on Monday, it is learnt that an Army vehicle came under attack on the campus last Wednesday.There was intense stone-throwing by students on an Army vehicle on April 12, when an Army officer of the Rashtriya Rifles arrived in the college to discuss a proposal with the principal for conducting a seminar on the campus.“At that time, the Army showed exceptional restraint and moved out their Casspir vehicle within 10 minutes of arriving in the college,” Pulwama Degree College principal Abdul Hameed told The Tribune.“Earlier, the Army officer concerned had called me on phone to seek permission for conducting a seminar in the college. I told him that I would get back after discussing the proposal with the senior staff of the college,” Hameed said while refusing to identify the officer. As the principal was discussing the proposal with the staff after the phone call, he heard some noise outside. “As I came out of my office, I saw an Army Casspir vehicle entering the college premises and students resorting to intense stone-throwing as they mistook it as a raid on the college,” the principal said while narrating the incident on April 12, which he said became the precursor to the police action later on Saturday.“Exhibiting immense restraint, the Army vehicle retreated and calm was restored in the college within half an hour. The students even resumed their classes afterwards,” the principal said, adding that for the next two days, that is April 13 and 14, the college was closed on account of gazetted holidays.“As soon as the college reopened on April 15, I saw two police vehicles entering the college premises around 11.30 am. This provoked the students, who resorted to stone-throwing. The police retaliated by resorting to intense shelling inside the college with nearly 5,000 students,” the principal said, alleging that the police entered the college premises without seeking permission or intimating about their arrival. The principal, who rang up the local Superintendent of Police and Inspector General of Police as the commotion broke out in the college, said he pleaded with the police personnel accompanied by the local SHO and a DSP-rank official to leave the college as the situation was getting out of control.“They yelled at me and started firing tear-gas shells,” he said. In the clashes between the police and the students, who were later joined in by outsiders, over 50 pupils of the college were injured.The police, however, maintained that the clashes erupted when a normal naka was established around 200 metres away from the college and some miscreants started throwing stones at the personnel manning the checkpost.In principal’s words… 

• There was heavy stone-throwing by Pulwama Degree College students on an Army vehicle on April 12, when an Army officer arrived in the college to discuss a proposal for conducting a seminar
• Exhibiting immense restraint, the Army vehicle retreated and calm was restored in the college within half an hour
• On April 15, two police vehicles entered the college premises. This provoked the students, who resorted to stone-throwing. The police reacted by firing tear-gas shells. In the ensuing clashes, 50 pupils were injured