Dehradun: It was a harrowing experience for over 20 Kashmiri girl students after a group of locals and activists of fringe groups surrounded their hostel in the middle of the state capital demanding the owner to “throw them out of the place”. The girls pursuing masters course in various disciples stayed locked in a room for over four hours even as police force was present on the spot. The girls claimed that the protesters left the premises only after they were made to “apologise to all the elders”.Rahul Pundir, a relative of BJP’s Sahaspur MLA Sahdev Singh Pundir, who was present at the protest outside the girls’ hostel in Suddhowala, claimed that the Kashmiri girls living in the hostel had raised “pro-Pakistan and anti-India” slogans from the terrace while the local residents were taking out a peaceful candlelight march after the Pulwama terror attack.Tahira Ali, one of the girls, refuted the allegations that the girls had raised the slogans. She told TOI that they “were forced to remain locked for over four hours.” “We called the police which arrived immediately but failed to disperse the mob. We were so scared that we were not able to open our room or go out to have any food,” she added.Shazia Hamid, another student who was forced to lock herself in a room ,said that the crowd dispersed after the girls apologized to them. “We joined our hands in apology and then the aunties agreed to leave the premises,” she added.Pundir, meanwhile, said that the situation was diffused “when the girls apologised and touched the feet of a few elders in the locality”.

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