Valley’s school woes continue as another one gutted; total 33
SRINAGAR: Another school building was gutted in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district late on Saturday night, taking the total number of Valley schools damaged in the past five months to 33.Locals said that the rooftop of the single-storey Government High School at Larnoo was the first to catch fire. Anantnag superintendent of police Zubair Khan told HT that the possibility of miscreants starting the blaze could not be ruled out. He, however, added that the flame might have been triggered by an electrical cable that passes over the building. Khan said they were carrying out investigation to zero in on the cause of the blaze.
The flames were brought under control by the fire department and no one was injured in the incident.
The unabated burning of schools in Kashmir in October had spiralled into a major political issue with the Jammu and Kashmir high court state stepping in and directing the state government to protect the education institutes. Police have said that they have found no common link among the arsonists arrested on charges of partially or completely burning down school buildings in the unrest-hit Valley.In November, international rights watchdog — the Human Rights Watch (HRW) — had raised concern over the attack on education sector in Kashmir during the turmoil triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani by security forces in July. NORTHERN COMMAND CHIEF REVIEWS SECURITY
New chief of Army’s Northern Command Lt General D Anbu reviewed the security situation in unrest-hit Kashmir during his visit to the Valley which ended on Sunday. “On his maiden visit to the Valley after taking over the reins of the Udhampur-based Northern Command, Lt Gen D Anbu arrived here yesterday for a twoday tour to review the security in 15 Corps (Kashmir valley),” an army spokesman said.