College meet on Kashmir deferred over 'Azadi' docu

The Symbiosis College in Pune has deferred a seminar on Kashmir after objections by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and an organisation representing displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

Representatives of ABVP, the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Panun Kashmir, who met the college authorities on Monday, said the proposed screening of a documentary, Jashn-e-Azadi, at the seminar Voices of Kashmir, projected the militants in the Valley as 'heroes' and was critical of the Indian Army.

This was not acceptable, they maintained.

"We submitted a memorandum to the college authorities against offering a platform to anti-national elements at the seminar and they told us that the seminar would be postponed," a spokesman of ABVP said.

Rohit Bhat, coordinator of the Pune chapter of PK, told PTI that the proposed seminar should be more "inclusive" and project a balanced view of the situation in the militancy-hit state, which also includes Jammu and Ladakh regions.

A Symbiosis spokesman said the three-day meet was being postponed. He said the meet was intended to be an "apolitical and academic event" without hurting anybody's sentiments.

The college has not announced new dates for the postponed event.