Stone pelters attacked a school bus in Shopian, south Kashmir, on Wednesday, May 2, morning, injuring two children.
A group of miscreants pelted stones on the bus carrying 35 students of Rainbow High School at Zavoora in Shopian. The bus windows were damaged in the incident. The injured students were immediately rushed to a hospital where one of them was discharged while another, Rehan Gorsai, a Class 2 student, who had suffered a head injury, was shifted to a Srinagar hospital. His condition was reported to be stable.
Shopian district was observing a shutdown against the killing of two militants, including a commander Sameer Tiger, and a civilian in an encounter at Drabgam in neighbouring Pulwama district, said a report in The India Express (IE).
Jammu-Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti condemned the attack and said the perpetrators will be punished. “Shocked & angered to hear of the attack on a school bus in Shopian. The perpetrators of this senseless & cowardly act will be brought to justice,” she tweeted.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also condemned the attack on the school bus, tweeting: “How does pelting stones on school children or tourist buses help advance the agenda of these stone pelters? These attacks deserve our unequivocal condemnation & this tweet is mine.”
The amnesty granted to stone-pelters was meant to encourage more reasonable behaviour but some of these goons are determined to use the opportunity given to them to just pelt more stones, Abdullah tweeted.
Condemning the incident, Director General of Police SP Vaid said, “Complete madness how stone pelters are targeting young school children. These criminals will face the law.”
National Conference spokesman Junaid Mattu also condemned the incident and took a dig at separatists, saying, “One would expect (Syed Ali Shah) Geelani and Mirwaiz (Umer Farooq) to take a conscientious call and condemn stone pelting while reserving the right to espouse their political ideologies through non-violence. You can’t claim the moral high ground while refusing to condemn this unequivocally.”
The attack on school bus followed an attack on tourists on Monday. According to a Hindustan Times (HT) report, seven tourists were injured when stone-pelters targeted passing vehicles in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Monday evening.
Officials said a group of youngsters pelted stones at vehicles carrying both local residents and tourists at Ashmuqam area of Pahalgam around 8 pm. The injured were part of a group of 47 tourists travelling in four vans, said the HT report.