Kanhaiya - ABVP great Debate, speech on JNU, along with Shehla Rashid, India today conclave 2016

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• published: 19 Mar 2016
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Kashmir is an integral part of India and therefore, Indians have the right to discuss the issues pertaining to Kashmiris at any forum, JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar said today. Speaking at the India Today Conclave 2016, Kanhaiya said: "There is no doubt that Kashmir is an integral part of India. And since Kashmiris are Indians, we can always discuss their issues." Kanhaiya, who was charged with sedition, denied supporting Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri who was hanged for his role in the terror attack on Parliament. When asked by India Today TV Managing Editor Rahul Kanwal if he had raised slogans against the Indian Army's alleged atrocities in Kashmir, Kanhaiya was backed by his deputy in the JNU Students Union, Shehla Rashid, who is also a Kashmiri woman. "It pains me to say that but it is a fact that there are allegations against the Indian Army of raping women in Kashmir. But we are not able to do much about them because of the impunity that Armed Forces Special Powers Act provides to the soldiers," Rashid said, appealing especially to the women in the audience to come to terms with the allegation. Rashid further said that even as a Kashmiri, who have a very hostile image of India, she began to have faith in the Indian democratic institutions after she joined the JNU. "For a Kashmiri who boycott elections in the Valley to fight an election in JNU was a big leap of faith, and I am glad I made it," she said. Kanhaiya also defended the February 9 event on the campus by saying people should have a right to oppose capital punishment. "Our protest was against capital punishment, not in support of Afzal," he said, adding that even if an ABVP activist was given capital punishment, he would oppose it. source : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kashmir-an-integral-part-of-india-jnus-kanhaiya-kumar-at-india-today-conclave/1/623870.html