Don’t send children to army-run schools: Geelani to Kashmiris

A LARGE NUMBER OF CHILDREN FROM CIVILIAN AREAS ATTEND SCHOOLS RUN BY THE ARMY IN KASHMIR

SRINAGAR/JAMMU Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Saturday accused schools run by the army of “indoctrinating” students in the Valley. He said these institutions are “making children indifferent” towards their religion and culture.

The separatist leader also urged parents to avoid sending their children to such institutions. “For petty material gains we are loosing our next generation,” he said, and asked parents to “watch and be careful” about their future.

On Friday, Geelani had said that Kashmiris should never send their children to these institutions and raised doubts about the education imparted therein.

“For the betterment of our youth, seek admission in other institutions run by prominent and well-known organisations,’’ Geelani had said.

In a statement, Geelani said that a “nation pursuing freedom struggle can never make occupiers the custodian of its future generations”.

“They are killing, maiming and blinding us. How obsolete and obscure it is to trust them (army run schools) and handover our future into their custody,’’ Geelani said.

A large number of children from civilian areas attend schools run by the army.

While other schools in the Valley remained shut during the six-month-long unrest in 2016, army schools were functioning as usual.

GEELANI USED TO SPREADING FALSE PROPAGANDA: DY CM Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Nirmal Kumar Singh on Saturday lashed out at Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others for spreading “false propaganda” against army goodwill schools in Kashmir.

“It’s their tendency. They are the same people who burnt down government schools. Their own children study in the best institutions in foreign countries. However, if the army and other security forces open schools for the poor so that they too can progress and grow, the separatists find faults in it,” he said.

He added that the Centre and state government are working in tandem and the situation in Kashmir will be controlled soon.