Washington:
Indian Americans called on a US university not to implement part of one of the demands it had made to protesting students – to display on campus the flags of the 'occupied people' showing Kashmiris along with Palestinians and the Kurds were mentioned.
“This is dangerous territory for Rutgers to meddle in (sic),” wrote Thomas Abraham, president of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), in a letter to Jonathan Holloway President, Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey state.
“To even consider this demand is to question the integrity of India. Kashmir is very much a part of India. There is no separate flag for Kashmir. The people of Kashmir are not displaced persons. In fact, the displaced are the Hindu minorities who had to leave Kashmir due to the violence against them, if Rutgers displays such a flag of Kashmir it will be the start of more sit-ins by students who are against such flags,” Abraham wrote .
The university has not implemented this requirement.
“The Office of the Chancellor will take stock of the flags displayed on the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus and ensure appropriate representation of students enrolled in academic and other spaces,” Chancellor Francine Conway wrote in a letter from three pages in response to the protesting students. on Thursday.
The students, as specified in her letter, had demanded that “the flags of occupied peoples – including but not limited to Palestinians, Kurds and Kashmiris – be displayed in all areas with international flags on Rutgers campuses.”
Students protested against Israel's war in Gaza, while students from many universities across the country put forward ten demands.
The main demand, which was common to the demonstrators at all other universities, was to divest companies that do business with Israel or support the war effort and cut ties with Israel.
The chancellor said the university is investigating these links and will discuss the findings with students.
Indian Americans are focused on whoever allows the display of the flag of the 'occupied people' of Kashmir. “So @RutgersU has caved,” Suhag Shukla of the Hindu American Foundation wrote in a post on X.
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