Gujarat: After a crowd broke into a hostel at Gujarat University last night and attacked students from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, two African nations, for reportedly performing namaz, five international students were hurt. According to reports, Gujarat’s top police officers were instructed by state home minister Harsh Sanghavi to make sure a fair investigation is conducted and to apprehend the perpetrators as soon as feasible.
Praying Amidst Challenges
The Ministry of External Affairs has declared that it is in communication with the government of Gujarat and that anyone responsible for the attacks on the international students will face severe consequences. The students gathered inside the hostel to offer taraweeh, a nighttime namaz during Ramadan, as they claimed that the Ahmedabad campus lacks a mosque. The students claim that shortly after, a crowd with knives and sticks broke into the hostel, attacked the residents, and vandalised their rooms. The students claim that despite his best efforts, the hostel security guard was unable to disperse the crowd.
According to one Afghani student, the mob chanted slogans and questioned the students’ permission to perform namaz in the hostel. “They also assaulted us within the rooms. They damaged bikes, phones, and laptops,” he claimed.
According to the student, two of the five injured students are from Africa and one each from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Turkmenistan. “The mob had fled by the time police arrived. The injured students are in hospital and have informed the embassies.”
Images and Videos Capture Hostel Attack Aftermath
Images circulated on social media featured smashed laptops, shattered bikes, and destroyed rooms. Some of the images show people tossing insults and stones at the international students living in the dormitory. The foreign students can be heard in the images expressing that they are “scared” and that “this is unacceptable.”
In one of the videos, a youngster in the mob is heard asking a security guard, “Why are they offering namaz, is this the place?” This is when a student approaches the child, shouts, and attacks him. On social media, some individuals have said that this is what started the mob violence.
Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of parliament from Hyderabad and the leader of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, has condemned the incident and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah step in.
Asaduddin Owaisi Condemns Hostel Attack
“What a shame. When your devotion and religious slogans only come out when Muslims peacefully practice their religion. When you become unexplainably angry at the mere sight of Muslims. What is this, if not mass radicalisation? This is the home state of @AmitShah & @narendramodi, will they intervene to send a strong message? I am not holding my breath. @DrSJaishankar domestic anti-Muslim hatred is destroying India’s goodwill,” he said in a post on X.
Commissioner of Ahmedabad City Police JS Malik announced that an investigation has been launched. “About 300 overseas students study here. They are from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and African countries. Some of them were offering namaz on the terrace yesterday. Some people came and asked why they were doing so and that they should offer namaz at a mosque. This led to a heated exchange and a fight. The outsiders then threw stones and vandalised the hostel rooms.”
Nine Teams Deployed to Investigate Hostel Attack
The senior officer reported that shortly after receiving a call, police arrived at the location. ‘Nine teams have been assembled to look into this. One individual has been identified. An FIR has been filed after a complaint was received about twenty to twenty-five persons. We’ll go over the viral videos,’ he said. He declared, “The situation is under control and we will take strict action against those involved.”
