Indian diplomats have pulled their children out of schools in Islamabad after New Delhi declared the high commission a “no school-going mission” in June previous year, a move Pakistan raked up to draw attention to bilateral relations strained by the recent unrest in Kashmir.
Advertisement
The Hurriyat Conference amalgam asked Ms Mehbooba Mufti that instead of blaming “here and there for the situations in Kashmir, she should restrict and stop the Indian armed forces from killing innocent children but being a loyal employee of New Delhi, she has a job to accuse other people for the faults and sins of India and its forces in Kashmir”.
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”. He, however, refused to comment further on the matter.
Last week, India had asked Pakistan to guarantee protection and security of the Indian officials and their family members who are stationed in Islamabad. The officials from Ministry of External Affairs had cited security reasons behind the order, but the decision comes as tension between India and Pakistan has been growing after the unrest of Kashmir.
Sources said the IHC had already communicated the decision to Pakistan’s Foreign Office and the school authorities.
“The members also lauded the role of Pakistan in highlighting the plight of the people of Kashmir and in requesting the United Nations Organizations as also the other peace loving people of the World to play their role in settling the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the people”, the statement added.
According to officials, there are about 50 school-going children of Indian officials, who are now posted in Indian mission in Islamabad.
The present uprising in Kashmir and the heavy handed treatment of Kashmiris by Indian security agencies prompted Pakistan to extend its diplomatic support to the Kashmiris and urge the worldwide community to pay attention to it. Their children are ferried to and from schools in these vehicles.
Police and paramilitary soldiers removed steel barricades and layers of barbed wire from the roads in downtown Srinagar, the old quarters of the city, but hundreds of residents burned tires and chanted pro-freedom and anti-India slogans on the streets. “We want to make it clear that Indian government does not only want a needbased relationship with Kashmir, but an emotional one”, Singh said, expressing his condolences to the victims of violence.
In response to this, Aziz said, “India can not ignore the fact that over 200,000 Kashmiris participated in the funeral prayers of Burhan Muzaffar Wani in 50 different locations throughout Kashmir despite strict curfew clamped in the Valley, which still continues 15 days after Wani’s killing on 8 July 2016”.
But by the time terrorists attacked the army school in Peshawar, the Indian bullet-proof buses in Islamabad had become well recognised as those ferrying the children of diplomats, making them a prime target for militants.
Advertisement
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmiri rebels who have been fighting since 1989 for independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
