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Students demand Harvard to stand with Hindus after Pahalgam attack
They wrote two letters, one asking the president of the Harvard University to take a stand against religious-based terrorism, and the other to Secretary of State Marc Rubio.
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Nandika Chand - Fri, 02, May 2025
- 02:19 EDT
- 100
Representative Image / iStock
In the days leading up to the Pakistan Conference 2025 held at Harvard University on Apr.27, students at the Harvard Kennedy School issued two urgent letters—one addressed to senior Harvard leadership and another to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio—calling for firm action against the participation of Pakistani officials in the event.
Their appeals, dated Apr.25, came in the wake of the Apr.22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where Hindus were killed by terrorists linked to the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Survivors described how attackers demanded religious identification and executed those unable to recite Islamic prayers.
In the first letter, addressed to Harvard President Dr. Alan Garber, Provost John Manning, and Dean Jeremy Weinstein, students Surabhi Tomar and Abhishek Chaudhari condemned the attack and urged Harvard to publicly denounce the killings. They also called on the university to reconsider allowing Pakistani government figures to speak at the conference, stating that Harvard “must ensure its campus does not become a platform for whitewashing state-enabled religious terrorism”.
The students also sought the Harvard leaders to provide emotional and institutional support to affected students through the Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
In a separate letter to Rubio, the students urged the U.S. State Department to revoke the visas of Pakistani officials, including Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, who were slated to attend the event. The students argued that several of these officials had made statements defending or justifying Kashmir-linked insurgency and bore ideological ties to terror-enabling rhetoric.
Also Read: Diaspora mourns Pahalgam attack victims at Silicon Valley vigil
“While the Pakistani Foreign Ministry issued perfunctory condolences, other leaders have simultaneously issued veiled threats toward India and reaffirmed their support for Kashmiri insurgents—the ideological and logistical base for LeT,” the letter to Rubio stated.
“The United States must not host representatives of a state that protects and promotes organizations targeting civilians based on faith,” the letter added.
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