Team India's defeat against the West Indies in the World Cup T20 semi-final in Mumbai sparked off clashes between students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Hazratbal in Srinagar on Friday, leading authorities to close the institute until further notice. While Kashmiri students raised pro-Pakistan slogans, the non-local students raised anti-Pakistan and pro-India slogans inside the campus, police said. NIT deputy registrar AM Bhat said the college was being closed until further orders and students were asked to vacate the hostel. Meanwhile, Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the physical assault of Kashmiri students by some goons in an engineering college in Dausa, Rajasthan, saying such attacks are calibrated with the purpose to scare Kashmiri students.

Two groups of students at the institute, one from Kashmir and the other from another state, fought after local students burst crackers late Thursday night after Team India lost.

A group of engineering students from other states in the NIT hostel took out a protest march inside the campus on Friday afternoon, which triggered clashes between them. Cops, however, rushed to the spot and stopped the situation from spiraling out of control. Police said students smashed window panes and caused damage to college property.

According to one student, the "outside students" objected to the celebrations over India's defeat but could not prevent them. They then assembled on Friday, which provoked the local students into charging at them.