Two children were injured on Wednesday when a group of miscreants attacked a school bus with stones in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, police said.
The bus was carrying 35 students and two others were also injured in the incident, police said. Eight-year-old Rehan Gorsai was taken to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar for specialised treatment, where doctors treating him said his condition was stable. The incident triggered outrage across the Kashmir Valley.
Doctors said his condition was stable. Rehan’s distressed father was heard saying in the hospital, “My son has been injured in stone pelting, this is against humanity. This could have been anyone's child.”
Anguished by the attack on the school children, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti took to the social networking site Twitter. “Shocked & angered to hear of the attack on a school bus in Shopian. The perpetrators of this senseless & cowardly act will be brought to justice (sic),” she wrote.
My son has been injured in stone pelting, this is against humanity. This could have been anyone's child: Father of the minor (who got injured in stone pelting on a school bus in Kanipora). #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/9TiiH41Fld
— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2018
Former chief minister and National Conference working president, Omar Abdullah lashed out at the stone-pelters. “How does pelting stones on school children or tourist buses help advance the agenda of these stone pelters? These attacks deserve our unequivocal condemnation,” he tweeted.
#Shame https://t.co/skk2YT9qjv
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 2, 2018
The incident took place in Zawoora village, a police officer said.
"The injured children were shifted to a hospital where doctors referred one of them to Srinagar for specialised treatment," the official said.
The police has taken cognisance of the incident and a hunt for the miscreants is underway.
I sped up the bus as soon as I realised stones were being pelted at the bus. I tried my best to save the students but one student got injured: Driver of the school bus on which stones were pelt in J&K's Kanipora earlier today. pic.twitter.com/2ieSi6mWLB
— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2018
In other stone pelting attacks that took place on Monday late evening in Anantnag district, three tourists were injured. On the same day, security forces had gunned down two Hizb terrorists including a top commander, Sameer Tiger, triggering protests by his sympathizers.
SSP Anantnag, Altaf Khan, said a group of 47 tourists from Kerala who were travelling in four minibuses came under attack from stone-pelters on Monday night at about 8pm near Ashmuqam in Pahalgam town of Anantnag district. Two tourists—Usha and Jay Prakash—were injured and treated at different sub-district hospitals in Seer, Anantnag district.
#JammuAndKashmir: Visuals of school bus on which stones were pelted in Kanipora. One student has been injured in the incident. pic.twitter.com/mXT8bRXPpo
— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2018
Another tourist, Ritu Devi of Mumbai was hit in her head after her cab was attacked by stone-pelters between Awantipora and Bejibehara in Anantnag district. Police escorted the tourists to a hotel in Srinagar, said Shinil, a tourist guide accompanying the tourist group.
Last year chief minister Mehbooba Mufti granted amnesty to first-time stone-pelters, in her quintessential ‘healing touch’ approach to violence in Kashmir.
