In August this year, schoolchildren in remote Bagwah area of hilly Doda district of Jammu region were prevented from singing the National Anthem by their schoolteachers.
Two months later, in the north-western part of the State, it’s the schoolchildren now who have sent shock waves by raising pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans inside their classroom in Government Higher Secondary School, Sialsui in Kalakote area of Rajouri district.
The latest incident has left the local police and civil authorities in a tizzy as authorities are taking it as the outcome of a process of large-scale ‘radicalisation’ of schoolchildren across Jammu region by the Valley-based separatist forces and their sympathisers.
Incidentally, a large number of students identified by the school principal as having raised the slogans have already gone missing. The local police have no clue about their whereabouts and are waiting for a preliminary enquiry report before proceeding further in the sensitive case.
The parents of these children are left behind to face the wrath of local authorities who have been forced to launch a massive manhunt to track them down under pressure from local residents in the area. So far, no formal arrest has been made in the case. According to local police authorities, an FIR under Section 153 A of the RPC has been registered on the basis of a written complaint forwarded by school principal Anil Gujral.
According to official sources, at least eight students were identified by the school authorities on Friday before approaching the police under pressure from the local residents.
The incident was reported on Thursday afternoon on the school premises when students belonging to two groups engaged in heated arguments and this resulted in loud sloganeering.
On Friday, soon after the school reopened a large number of children from different classes assembled outside the school gate and locked the main gate seeking strict action against the students involved in anti-India slogan shouting.
The district administration rushed Tehsildar Kalakote and SHO to tackle the situation and verify the allegations of anti-India slogan shouting.
large number of local residents also downed their shutters in the area and sought firm action against the school going children for indulging in anti-India and pro-Pak sloganeering.
CEO Rajouri Altaf Hussain speaking to The Pioneer over telephone said, “The school principal is verifying the facts in the matter before submitting a complete report to the education department”.
He said the principal has also submitted a written complaint to the police to prevent repeat of such incidents on the school premises.
On their part, the police authorities are in the process of verifying whether it was an isolated incident or part of a bigger plan to lure away school going children with the help of radicalised youth in the area.
SSP Rajouri Rajeshwar Singh said, “We are carrying out detailed investigation in the case and trying to ascertain whether it was the handiwork of some anti-national elements, who had motivated the schoolchildren or happened on its own. He said the police authorities would take firm action against the guilty.
In the incident at the State Government-run Higher Secondary School in Bagwah in August, schoolchildren from a majority community were prevented by teachers of their school from singing the National Anthem during the morning school assembly.
A large number of schoolchildren then took out a protest march from Bhagwah and covered about 15 kms of zig zag road on foot to reach the office of Deputy Commissioner where they held a demonstration against their own school teachers who were not allowing them to sing National Anthem during the morning Assembly on the school premises.