Overview
- University of Kashmir, IUST, and SKUAST-K said internal reviews found the partnerships were not in their larger institutional interest and issued termination orders with immediate effect.
- Officials and local reports linked the decisions to adverse inputs from security and intelligence reviews, though the universities did not detail specific concerns.
- IUST ended its pact by invoking a force majeure clause, while KU and SKUAST-K used termination provisions, and all three said no funds were exchanged and no liabilities accrued.
- Kashmir Care Foundation, an Atlanta nonprofit led by Altaf A Lal that says it supports Kashmiri youth, said its president has written to the universities and the Chancellor after learning of the decisions.
- Emails reported by Republic World show IUST faculty asked KCF to remove their profiles, and the coordinated pullback signals tighter vetting of foreign collaborations in research, technology, and data sharing across the Valley’s campuses.