Sources said the IHC had already communicated the decision to Pakistan’s Foreign Office and the school authorities.
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In Islamabad, the Pakistan foreign office spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, said the Indian government’s decision was “an informal, internal, administrative arrangement we were informed of two months back”.
But the curfew continued Tuesday in areas of southern Kashmir where most of the deadly street protests erupted and later escalated across the disputed region following the July 8 killing of a top rebel commander in fighting with government forces. Much to India’s chagrin, it then tried to internationalise the Kashmir issue by raising it at the high-level thematic debate on human rights at the United Nations on July 14.
The statement said as per normal practice, India had reviewed staffing and related policies for its mission in Islamabad, “including in view of prevailing circumstances at those stations”.
“This campaign is created to highlight the atrocities and abuses carried out by the Indian Armed forces and Police who enjoy complete immunity under the Armed Forced Special Powers Act which has made a mockery of India’s claim to be a secular democracy”, reads the statement accompanying the campaign.
Meanwhile, the Indian army said soldiers and police jointly killed four suspected militants in a gunbattle near the highly militarized Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. He said that there are number of cases of committing murder of army/security personnel and pro-India elements and instrumental in migration of Kashmiri Pandits and other minority communities, against them.
This virtually means downgrading Islamabad to a “non-school-going station”.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmiri rebels who have been fighting since 1989 for independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan. The explosion targeted a university and killed many. “We condemn and lament the criminal silence and inaction of the Indian Government and Cultural icons of India”. The attendance of Indian children at the school had dipped in recent years because of security threats. The school is famous for accommodating the children of foreign nationals residing in Pakistan.
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As many as 50 schoolchildren of Indian diplomatic staff are studying at the International School of Islamabad (ISOI), also known as American School. However, amidst all of this diplomatic wrangling, the voice of Kashmiris is notably absent, and this is the part that needs to be worked on to give justice to them.
