Amsterdam: Kashmiri leaders have strongly condemned a terrorist attack on the premises of the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) at Pampore located on the outskirts of Srinagar, describing it as an attack on the future of Kashmiri youth.
The 56-hour standoff between security forces and terrorists reduced the riverside multi-storey building into a charred skeleton, leaving the future of hundreds of Kashmiri students in the dark.
The JKEDI building was earlier targeted on February 20 by LeT terrorists in which three commandos of the elite forces were martyred during a three-day-long operation.
The terrorists also killed eight CRPF personnel in a separate attack on June 25 in the vicinity of the JKEDI building.
Kashmiri writer and journalist Junaid Qureshi, who is based in Amsterdam, termed such attacks as a deliberate strategy by Pakistan to target education and educational establishments.
"Ignorance is the foundation of terrorism and it is ignorance which is being promoted in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan, so that their propaganda can find a foothold", said Junaid.
He further added, "For three months now, schools in the valley are closed. This particular education establishment in Pampore was targeted earlier as well. There seems to be a deep rooted conspiracy to target education in order to Talibanise Jammu and Kashmir".
The Kashmiri activists from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have also strongly opposed the terror attack of educational institutes in Kashmir valley.
Jamil Maqsood, secretary-foreign affairs of United Kashmir People`s National Party, who is based in Brussels said, "Pakistan backed terrorists are destroying infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, the reason is very simple, they are ignorant and brainwashed by the security establishment of Pakistan.
Targeting state educational institutions and other premises shows their intentions".Jamil, who praised India for carrying out surgical strikes on terrorist camps in PoK, said a surgical operation was required to wash out terrorists camps where ever they exist in PoK.
He said, "Pakistan doesn`t need surgical strikes. That country needs a major surgical operation so that the terrorist infrastructure can be properly dismantled."
Col (retired) Wajahat Hassan Khan, who hails from Gilgit Baltistan, also strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the JKEDI in Pampore.
He said, "I strongly condemn this type of terrorist activity, which target educational institutions. It`s an attack on Kashmiri youth and is designed to deny them skill development."
Junaid Qureshi said such attacks by Islamabad are its continuous attempt to distort the history of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Many in Jammu and Kashmir refuse to believe that it was Pakistan which violated the Standstill Agreement with Maharaja (Hari Singh) and attacked us on the 22nd of October 1947. Pakistan keeps talking of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, but what it doesn`t tell, is that the first clause of the said UN Resolutions obligates Pakistan to withdraw its forces from the part of Jammu and Kashmir which it occupies."
He also targeted the separatists for destablising Kashmir.
Junaid said, "After getting our children killed, ruining our economy and turning this paradise into hell, what is next on the agenda? Make us illiterate and beggars. I fail to comprehend the audacity of those who think that the blockade of education will solve the Kashmir issue and bring Azadi. And even if it does bring a Talibanised inspired solution, what happens next? What do we Kashmiris do when our next generations cannot read and write? What happens to our society? It is highly condemnable that our education and next generation are being attacked in this way".
