Following the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian students at the Harvard Kennedy School protested the planned visit of Pakistani delegates to the campus. The students sent a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging him to cancel the visas of Pakistani officials attending the Pakistan Conference 2025 at Harvard University.

In a letter, Indian students Surabhi Tomar and Abhishek Chaudhari, studying at Harvard Kennedy School, expressed their deep concern over the targeted terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India, on April 22, 2025. They wrote, "We are students at Harvard Kennedy School, deeply disturbed by the recent targeted terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India, on April 22, 2025. Survivors confirm that attackers demanded religious identification and recitation of Islamic prayers--those who failed or identified as Hindu were killed. This was not an indiscriminate act of violence--it was a faith-based massacre." 

The students criticised Pakistan's reaction to the attack, noting that several leaders from there had issued threats against India.

"Even more troubling is the response from Pakistani state officials. 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 continued. The students further pointed out, "despite this, senior Pakistani government figures, some directly tied to these statements, are scheduled to attend the Pakistan Conference 2025 at Harvard University. These include Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and others representing institutions complicit in ideologically or materially enabling religiously motivated terrorism." 

"Senator Rubio, we respectfully urge you to recommend that the US State Department revoke the visas of all Pakistani officials travelling to the United States for this conference," the letter further read. The students wrote in a separate letter to Harvard’s leaders, "Harvard has always stood for equity, global justice, and human dignity. In recent years, the university has taken meaningful stances in support of communities affected by racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hatred."

The letter read, "We now ask for the same clarity, courage, and compassion for Hindu and Indian students grieving the targeted killing of members of their faith. We request you to take a stance against Hinduphobia."