US based NGO under scanner , three Kashmir universities snap all ties with KCF

JK News Today

Srinagar, April 12: Everything that goes with the prefix or suffix of Care with Kashmir is not necessarily a care and cradle especially when it comes to education and the lure of collaboration with the foreign based foundations that too in the western countries .
This fact was realized by three universities in Kashmir, which after their internal reviews and assessments about Atlanta , the US based Kashmir Care Foundation , snapped their Memorandums of Understanding with the NGO claiming to be working for the academic and research oriented activities . The universities also noted the fact that everything was not fair , and took the decision to snap the ties through official communications but also declared their complete disassociation with the KCF, as the abbreviation for Kashmir Care Foundation goes.
Kashmir’s three universities – Kashmir University, Sher-e-Kashmir Agricultural University -K, and Islamic university of Science and Technology – which had signed Memorandums of Understanding with the KCF , perhaps excited by the prospects of raising profile by having an academic arrangement with the US based NGO, have cut their ties with KCF which has come under scanner of the central and other intelligence agencies .
In almost identical letters , the three universities have communicated to the KCF that they have nothing to do with its programmes and hence they are closing their chapter of academic and research collaboration with the NGO. The faculty too has made clear to the KCF that their pictures, profiles and the erstwhile association should be removed from the NGO’s calendar and website and programmes.
This has two implications that any other educational institution should not walk into the trappings of foreign collaboration to be in the dreamland of having foreign degree or diploma or joint research wok without prior verification , authentication of the credentials of organisations, particularly floating NGOs, who have been using the name of Kashmir to trap students and academicians from the Valley. Secondly , it is also clear to the heads of the institutions and faculty that collaboration or understanding with t unverified status of the NGOs and other organisations could prove to be a dangerous and risky affair. The NGOs that have come on radar of the intelligence agencies can harm the future prospects of students as that could result in cancellation of their Aadhar, and no NOC for passports once and for all .
A news agency has reported that “Emails accessed by this news agency show that academicians from IUST have written to the foundation declaring that their association was purely in compliance with university directions, and that they had no prior knowledge of the organisation before the collaboration. They have also sought removal of their profiles and cessation of all communication channels.”
Importantly, all three universities have underlined that no funds were exchanged and no liabilities created, suggesting that the collaborations remained largely limited to academic outreach and proposed initiatives.

The simultaneous withdrawal by multiple institutions highlights growing caution around foreign academic collaborations, particularly in areas involving technology, research, and data exchange.

“Kashmiri students associated with the US-based non-profit Kashmir Care Foundation have reportedly come under the scrutiny of central intelligence agencies, soon after three top Kashmiri universities snapped ties with the organisation over ‘adverse inputs,” the news agency reported.

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Kashmiri students associated with the US-based non-profit Kashmir Care Foundation have reportedly come under the scrutiny of central intelligence agencies, soon after three top Kashmiri universities snapped ties with the organisation over ‘adverse inputs’.

Sources said the students who had been interning, collaborating, or engaging remotely with the foundation are being “flagged for background verification” as part of a broader review triggered by what officials described as “adverse inputs” related to the NGO’s activities.

Officials familiar with the matter said that while no wrongdoing has been established against individual students, their association with the NGO has drawn the attention of central agencies amid heightened scrutiny of foreign collaborations.

There has been students have been informally cautioned to exercise discretion in their engagements with foreign organisations, particularly those now under review.

The move to place students under scrutiny follows a series of decisions by universities to sever ties with the foundation after internal reviews.

The University of Kashmir cited that continuation of the MoU was “not in the larger interest” of the institution, while the Islamic University of Science and Technology invoked exit provisions in its agreement to cancel the collaboration.