Amid curfew and restrictions, 10,803 students appeared for the Common Entrance Test (CET) for professional courses in the Kashmir Valley on Sunday.
Students and parents left volatile areas before dawn and many spent the night in homes near the examination centres.
“Transportation facility was made available at the main DC office, Bus Adda Awantipora and Sub-District Hospital Ground, Tral,” said Muneel-ul-Islam, deputy commissioner of Pulwama district, where there was no let-up in violent street protests. “The vehicles left for the examination centres around 5.30 am,” he said.
“We started our journey in the dead of the night. We had to remove heavy cement electric poles from the roads to reach Srinagar from Shopian,” said Nazia Mir, an aspirant.
Many parents reached Srinagar a day earlier. Colleges and universities in the Kashmir Valley remained closed for the 23rd day on Sunday.
“More than 90 per cent of the aspirants appeared for the examinations on Sunday, against 80 per cent attendance last year. This is an indication of the priorities of the youth in the Valley,” said Education Minister Naeem Akhtar.
Parents furious
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who inspected the CET centres, faced angry parents and anti-government and anti-India sloganeering by a crowd at the Government Women's College here.
“I salute the students’ resolve to write the exams. No one will be allowed to stop those who want to pursue education,” said Ms. Mufti, condemning posters pasted by unknown people asking girls “to avoid driving two-wheelers or face attacks.”
She asked the people “to look at how the educational, economic and social structure of Kashmir is being systematically ruined because of the prevailing situation.”
Protesters in Kashmir must engage in a dialogue to resolve issues, instead of perpetuating violence which had only brought about death and destruction of their own people, she said
Street protests continue
Sporadic protests and anti-India rallies were witnessed in north and south Kashmir. A rally was organised at the graveyard of militants in Pulwama district’s Kareemabad. Five protesters suffered pellet injuries in Shopian district as youth and security forces clashed in several areas in south Kashmir.
