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Government Higher Secondary School Kaba Marg Islamabad set ablaze by unknown persons on Oct 30, 2016. (KL Image: Shah Hilal)
The International rights watch dog – Human Rights Watch (HRW) – on Tuesday asked India and Pakistan to ensure that students can learn in peace.
In a statement issued today, the HRW referred to the burning of school buildings in Kashmir and stressed that “attacks on education” in Jammu and Kashmir need to stop immediately.
“Both India and Pakistan should show their commitment to ensuring all students can learn in peace by endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration, an international political commitment that outlines common-sense steps that governments can take to better protect students and schools in such tense situations. Kashmir should be putting out school graduates, not school fires,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.
Referring to burning of Government Higher Secondary School, Kabamarg Islamabad on last Sunday, the HRW said, that arsonists have attacked nearly 25 schools in Kashmir.
“Anti-government protests and the government’s heavy-handed response have created an atmosphere of turmoil,” the HRW added.
“These schools, most of them government-run institutions, were attacked in the middle of the night by so-called ‘miscreants’,” the statement said, “no one has claimed responsibility. Everyone blames each other. The High Court has called upon the authorities to “stop the enemies of education.”
“It is a tough time to be a student in Kashmir these days. First there were the protests that began in July after Burhan Wani, who became a militant as a teenager, was killed in an armed exchange with security forces. Wani had developed a large following on social media, even inspiring other young people to join the militancy,” the HRW noted.
“After he was killed, Wani’s young admirers took to the streets, throwing stones at police. Government forces retaliated with riot guns – the pellets often blinding protesters and bystanders, many permanently. Over 90 people have died in the violence, many of them students,” the statement said, “Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti blamed Pakistan and called upon parents to keep their children from joining the protests and prevent ‘vested interests’ from ‘playing politics over the dead bodies of the youth’.”
As protest violence escalated, the government first imposed a “mandatory” curfew, and schools, colleges, and shops shut down.
“Now, even though the violence has ebbed, calls for protests by Kashmiri separatist leaders have prevented educational institutions from functioning properly. Schools have remained shut for months. As some students protested, demanding that schools be reopened in time for examinations, Chief Minister Mufti accused the separatist protest organizers of trying to keep children out of school,” the statement added.
It said, “now schools are being razed.” “Soldiers deployed to contain the violence are temporarily occupying schools to use them as their bases and barracks.”
“These attacks on education in Jammu and Kashmir need to stop immediately. The burning of schools, assaults on teachers and students, the occupation of schools by the police and military, and the recruitment of children to become fighters violate the rights of children or thwart their chances to get an education,” the statement said.
“Both India and Pakistan should show their commitment to ensuring all students can learn in peace by endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration, an international political commitment that outlines common-sense steps that governments can take to better protect students and schools in such tense situations. Kashmir should be putting out school graduates, not school fires,” the rights watch dog said.
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