Locals fight arsonists to save school in Jammu and Kashmir

SRINAGAR: The 119th day of unrest and a 29th school goes up in flames in Kashmir on Friday. The situation is gloomy and the people are aghast and the tales of destruction are heartbreaking.

But those behind nefarious acts seem to be losing the game fast. Apart from evoking condemnation from all political parties including separatists, social and religious groups and the civil society, the general population has risen up against what it sees a deliberate attempt to keep their children out of school.

On Friday, it was the timely intervention of local residents which saved the government-run primary school at Dugpora, Gadoora in northern district of Ganderbal from being gutted completely. There have been a couple of other instances when locals battled to save the schools from being harmed by unknown arsonists.

The J&K police said earlier this week that it has arrested five persons who set ablaze a Government-run middle school in Tapper, Pattan area of north-western Baramulla district in the last week of October and that the ‘conspiracy’ to target the building was hatched at a local pharmacy. It has also claimed that more than 30 other people involved in such incidents have been identified and efforts are on to arrest them as well.