HRD ministry seeks report from AMU on prayer meet held for deceased militant as varsity sets up inquiry committee

The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry on Friday asked Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to send a report on the prayer meeting held on its campus for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in a gun battle with security forces in north Kashmir, according to several media reports. [caption id=“attachment_4144441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Aligarh Muslim University building. Image courtesy: AMU website[/caption] The AMU public relations officer denied that any such prayer meet had occurred, but said an inquiry committee had been set up, show cause notices were issued to nine people and disciplinary action was initiated, ANI reported. Some Kashmiri students of the AMU Thursday gathered near Kennedy Hall on campus to hold funeral prayers for Wani, following which the varsity staff and student union rushed to the spot and tried to stop them, AMU spokesperson and professor Shafey Kidwai said Friday. Three Kashmiri students were suspended by the varsity for allegedly trying to hold the prayer meeting. Kidwai had also said that the university has made it clear that there was zero tolerance for any act which would even remotely be described as anti-national. AMUSU president Faizul Hasan told PTI he had always championed the cause of freedom of speech but any act of treason or terror was unacceptable to the union. He said they will not allow the university to be defamed by any person who indulges in such unlawful activity. Meanwhile, BJP lawmaker from Aligarh Satish Gautam said those trying to hold a prayer meeting for Wani at the AMU campus should be expelled. The 27-year-old Wani, who quit PhD studies in Allied Geology and joined the militant ranks in January, was killed at Shatgund village in Handwara area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district during the encounter Thursday. With inputs from PTI