Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 3: Private School Association of Kashmir (PSAK) expressed dismay and concern over the violent incident in which stones were hurled on a school bus carrying students.
Terming it as a shameful act, the Association in a statement said that one fails to even get proper words to express the incident. “Children are the most innocent and vulnerable section of the society and our collective effort should be to keep them away from harms. We need to protect them always. The situation is such that everybody feels unsafe be it in their homes or outside. In such a situation children need extra care all across,” they said.
The Association prayed for the speedy recovery of injured students and said that every support will be provided to students to tide over the tragic incident.
The Association said that school buses should be treated as ambulances and be given a free run anywhere. “These school buses carry children towards schools or homes, the two places where they feel secure. We must ensure that the route they take should become a secure one too. We appeal that school buses be treated at par with ambulances. People have great regard for ambulances and everybody helps to clear way for it even during difficult times. Same approach should be employed for school buses,” G N Var, president PSAK said.
He said every section of the society be it our senior leaders or a commoner have condemned the incident. “Unequivocally everyone is against such incidents and the loud voice should reach to every quarter. We hope that the incident was a one off incident and will be never again repeated,” he said.
The Association also condemned the killing of a student Umer Ahmad Kumar of Turkwangan. “It seems to have become a norm that civilians are being subjected to brute force during protests and in most of the cases a student ends up losing a life. Let us hope such incidents are not repeated,” Var added.