Rutgers University faces criticism from GOPIO over its policy of displaying the separatist Kashmiri flag on campus.

May 4 :
There has been a strong objection from the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) against Rutgers University in New Jersey allowing the display of a separatist Kashmiri flag on campus. Republican Party of India of Ontario (GOPIO) chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham has addressed a letter to university president Jonathan Holloway expressing his displeasure of the student protesters' desire to fly flags of displaced people on campus.

In a letter sent to Rutgers University, GOPIO expressed their "great surprise" at the idea that the university was contemplating a request from protesting students to fly the flags of occupied peoples, such as Palestinians, Kurds, and Kashmiris, alongside the international flags.

Getting Rutgers involved in this is a risky proposition. The very fact that you are contemplating this demand calls into doubt India's sovereignty. Indian sovereignty extends to Kashmir. A distinct flag is not flown over Kashmir. Living in Kashmir does not constitute displacement. Actually, the displaced are members of Kashmir's Hindu minority who fled the region because to the violence that befell them. Students who are opposed to the raising of such a Kashmiri flag at Rutgers University would initiate further sit-ins, it added.

Additionally, GOPIO emphasised that Rutgers should stay out of the "internal conflicts of nations around the world." There are chapters of GOPIO in 35 countries; the organisation is non-profit and focuses on advocacy and community service. GOPIO's three New Jersey branches and seven New York area chapters are all actively involved in GOPIO activities. From its inception in 1989 during New York's First Convention of People of Indian Origin, GOPIO has grown annually. It has long included fighting for the rights of Indian-origin people all around the globe in cases of civil and human rights abuses.