JNU VC orders inquiry into anti-India J&K webinar; ‘Highly objectionable & provocative’

Hours after controversy erupted over a questionable and propagandist webinar organised by the Centre for Women's Studies (CWS) of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), its Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar issued a statement condemning the same.

A webinar on Jammu and Kashmir titled “Gendered Resistance and Fresh Challenges to Indian occupation in Kashmir” was scheduled to be held by JNU’s assistant professor Ather Zia on October 29 at 8.30 pm.

“As soon as it came to our notice that such a webinar was going to be organised, the JNU administration immediately instructed the faculty member to cancel the event. The program was cancelled forthwith. The faculty member did not seek the permission of administration before planning such an event,” said VC Jagadesh Kumar in a statement, late Friday.

The notice on the webinar reads, “This talk will draw and build upon the ethnography of… gendered resistance to Indian occupation in Kashmir.”

Reacting to the same, Kumar said, “This is a highly objectionable and a provocative subject, which questions the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country.” “JNU cannot be a platform to this kind of very questionable webinar,” he stated, assuring that the matter is being inquired into.  

JNU event on Jammu & Kashmir triggers row

The online invite assumed an anti-national tone by using the term 'Indian Occupied Kashmir'. As per reports, an assistant professor named Ather Zia, who is a political anthropologist had organised the webinar on J&K.

JNU has seen many controversies on its campus with the biggest one being when anti-India slogans were raised on February 9, 2016. On this day, some students from the varsity organised an event on the campus protesting against the hanging of the 2001 Parliament attack accused, Afzal Guru.

The protest took an ugly turn when anti-India slogans were chanted at the campus. JNU Students Union president (then) Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on sedition charges and ordered to three days of police custody after allegations of 'anti-national' sloganeering surfaced against him.

Image: PTI