The ceasefire announcement has rekindled hopes among the students in South Kashmir that their schools may be resumed soon. People in general, and students in particular, are happy, but have worries what will happen after Ramzan. The locals alleged that during a recent gunfight in Shopian, which the Army and the security forces killed a top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist along with Assistant Professor of Kashmir University, Dr Muhammad Rafi Bhat, the forces fired indiscriminately after coming out from the encounter site.
Rizia, a young girl who cannot forget the volleys of bullets fired on their house by the soldiers, said: “My sister Miema was in a pool of blood and we had to wait for the soldiers to move out and only then we could take her to a Srinagar hospital with great difficulty.” She said that their home was not the only residential place to be fired upon. After the encounter, six civilians were killed and more than hundred were injured.
The students of Pulwama and Shopian, the two worst affected districts, gave an impression that the parents are not allowing their wards to go to schools and colleges due to continuous turmoil. “In most of the schools in Zainapora, Shopian and some areas of Pulwama and Kulgam, only seven to 12 days of formal schooling has been possible this year,” said a senior official of the School Education Department.
Shopian, Pulwama and other parts of South Kashmir are simmering with unrest. It was Burhan Wani from Tral, Pulwama who galvanised young boys to join the terrorist ranks and post his killing in July 2016, the impact was huge. The Army had to start its “Operation All Out” in entire South Kashmir. Since this operation was started, there have been killings of civilians and terrorists in hundreds.
Young girls who go to colleges in South Kashmir are now hoping that the Ramzan ceasefire will be the beginning for them to go back to colleges regularly. “What will happen after Eid is the question we pose to each other,” said a girl student. She told this reporter that their parents will allow them to go to college only after watching how the situation unfolds.