CHANDIGARH: It was a protest for highlighting and opposing the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh and Myanmar , but then reminded some Jammu and Kashmir students among them of the hate and discrimination faced at home.A group of 50 youngsters held a silent protest against the killings by climbing on the Piccadily-JW Marriot chowk at 5pm here on Sunday. But, as the protest progressed and some of the students started to open up to the TOI team, the topic of discussion shifted to hate and discrimination closer to home.Though most of the protesters were from Punjab, there were Kashmiri students present too. "We are a mix bunch of Panjab University students, and include NGO workers, students from coaching classes and some who follow spiritual teachings of Sikhism. Whatever is happening with Rohingyas is against humanity; we should all stand together against it," said Jatin Singh (26), a protester.Protesters objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the issue and "the politics of detachment" practised by Myanmar Prime Minister Aung San Su Kyi, a Nobel peace prize winner. "These people, along with world peace organizations, should intervene and stop this genocide. None of them is doing anything," said Faheemuddin Dar, a student of philosophy at PU.Some students at the protest ended up narrating their own tales of hate and discriination at home. "People give me weird looks sometimes just because I am a Muslim and belong to Kashmir. It is subtle, but you know it's there," said a student who did not wish to be named as he feared for his safety.One of his friends, also a Muslim from Kashmir, said Chandigarh was still okay, but he had hide his identity when travelling towards communally sensitive areas like Haryana and UP. "In our childhood, we all used to be the same. People of all faiths were our friends, these divisions started getting apparent as we grew up," he said.Some of the students complained of harassment by cops. "Every time I am travelling to Jammu, my hometown, I am subjected to more checking and frisking at IGI Airport, New Delhi, than others just because of my religion. Sometimes, they straightaway ask us if we are carrying a bomb in our luggage or not," he said.

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