Stonepelters target school bus in Shopian, Class-2 boy hit in head
SRINAGAR: A Class-2 student was seriously injured by stone pelters who targeted his school bus in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Wednesday morning triggering outrage across the Kashmir valley.
Officials said that around 40 students were on way to their school when the throwers targeted their bus. Rehan, 8, was hit on the head; he was taken to Srinagar’s Shri Maharja Hari SINGH(SMHS) hospital for specialized treatment.
Superintendent of Police in Shopian, Shailender Mishra said that the incident happened around 9:25 in the morning when the bus was passing through Narpora area of Shopian.
“The driver showed presence of mind and increased speed so that he could avoid getting hit. However, unfortunately a child was hurt in his head. We had his CT scan, he is currently fine,” Mishra said.
He said that a couple of more students received some minor injuries and they were sent home after first aid. “The kids are scared. We could not ask them about the attackers,” he said.
The police said that they are trying to identify the persons involved in the attack. “Soon we will have some arrests,” the SP said.
Nooruddin, father of the injured child, told media that he saw his son off on the bus at around 8:30 in the morning. He said that later he came to know that the bus was targeted with stones. “These are school kids and this attack is against whole humanity. These kids are innocent and they have nothing to do with anything. If anything, school buses should not be targeted. Everybody has kids. This could have happened to anybody’s child. School buses should not become target of stone pelting,” he said.
Though thousands of stone pelting incidents have been reported in Kashmir since 2016, targeting a school bus has been rare. Commons, politicians and officials all expressed their outrage over the incident.
Director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid tweeted his anger. “Complete madness how stone pelters are targeting young school children. These criminals will face the law,” he said.
Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said she was shocked and sad to hear about the attack on a school bus. “The perpetrators of this senseless and cowardly act will be brought to justice,” she tweeted.
Former chief minister and opposition leader Omar Abdullah was intrigued as ‘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,” Abdullah said.