Heavy militarization, lingering Kashmir dispute badly impacting education in IIOJK

Islamabad: Today, when the world is marking the International Literacy Day, education, considered one of the basic human rights, has been badly affected in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir due to heavy militarization and decades-long unresolved Kashmir dispute.

A report released by Kashmir Media Service, today, said how Kashmiri students can pay attention to education when they are witnessing killings of their dear ones during violent military operations conducted by Indian troops on a daily basis.

The report said Kashmiri children are being harassed and humiliated by Indian troops instead of making it easy for them to achieve education, adding the situation has worsened since 5th August 2019 when the Modi-led Hindutva government of India abrogated the occupied territory’s special status. It maintained that the Kashmiri students had to bear the brunt of the military siege following the revocation of Article 370. It had been for months together that the Kashmiri children were forced to remain in homes as IIOJK was virtually cut off from the outside world, with phone and internet links shutdown and occupation troops enforcing a strict curfew.

The report maintained that Modi regime’s assault against education had reached unlimited proportions in IIOJK as it banned hundreds of schools run by Falah-e-Aam Trust to keep Kashmiri youth away from quality education. Besides, New Delhi has implemented New Education Policy in the territory, which is a reflection of RSS ideology. As part of its plan to Hinduize the education system, Kashmiri Muslim students are forced to sing Hindu religious songs and do ‘Surya Namaskar’ in educational institutions.

To deprive Kashmiri students from attaining education, they are harassed, beaten and humiliated in mainland India as well and are even expelled from educational institutions in different Indian states.

While pointing out that India had snatched every right, including the right to education of the Kashmiri people, the report urged the international community to pay attention to the plight of students in IIOJK by helping resolve the Kashmir dispute in line with relevant UN resolutions.