Jamia, AMU violence echoes in US varsities

Terming it as a gross violation of human rights, around 400 Indian students studying in various American universities have condemned the "brutal police violence" unleashed against students of Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University last Sunday.

In a detailed statement bearing the names, universities of the students/alumni signatories released on Tuesday, they expressed full solidarity with students across Indian universities who were protesting against the recent passing of what they termed as "the unconstitutional and discriminatory" Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"By every account, it appears that police and paramilitary, both at Jamia and at AMU, have used violence and pursued unlawful and reckless tactics against student protesters in violation of protections under the Constitution of India and International Human Rights law," the statement released through Jhalak M. Kakkar of Harvard Law School said.

The students/alumni groups who have signed the statement hail from: Harvard University, Columbia University, Yale University, New York University, Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Brown University, Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania, Tufts University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley Purdue University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Southern California, and University of Illinois.

As part of the solidarity moves, the first of many protest meetings is being organised at Harvard on December 17 against the CAA and NRC.IANS