Srinagar, June 3: From the school going children to members of civil society and even religious clerics, saner voices across Kashmir have joined the ongoing chorus against killing of teachers and other civilians, calling it an act against humanity.
Several videos from schools of various districts in Kashmir have surfaced on social media showing students and teachers raising their voice in this regard.
A non-local school teacher identified as Rajni Balla was shot at by terrorists in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday, while a banker was also shot dead by terrorists in the same district on Thursday morning.
The incident came amid a spate of attacks on non-locals in J&K UT. In wake of this, voices have gone shriller with civil society, students and school teachers raising their voices against the killing of school teachers and other non-locals.
Several videos surfaced on social media wherein the students and school teachers condemned the killing of the school teacher and termed it as an act against humanity.
“Teachers are architects irrespective of caste, creed, colour, and gender. Stop killing teachers. Killing teachers is killing of humanity,” the slogans were resonating in various schools during morning assemblies.
The students in Ganderbal and Anantnag schools raised slogans demanding an end to the killing of innocent teachers, while social media has been abuzz with condemnations against civilian killings.
A teacher from Ganderbal, Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, who is also the district president of J&K Teachers Forum (JKTF) in his video message said the teaching community condemns the killing of teachers.
“We all are against these killings as such killings are against the teaching of all religions. Killing of innocents is murder of whole humanity,” he said.
The students were holding placards with a message “Stop innocent killing” and raised their voices against the recent killing of the school teacher.
The District President JKTF Srinagar in his video message also condemned the killing of the migrant teacher and urged the J&K administration to look into the issue. “We condemn the innocent killing and do not support any sort of attacks on minority communities,” he said.
The clerics in their Friday sermons also raised their voices against the killing of minority communities and said the people of Kashmir do not want such killings.
“Islam does not allow such type of killings. We do not support the vested interests who are hell bent to spoil the secular environment in Kashmir,” the cleric in his sermon said.
This was the second incident since last year when a school teacher was killed during working hours in a school. The Principal and a teacher of a government school in Srinagar were shot dead inside the school premises on October 7 last year.
The police had said that the terrorists barged into the Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Iddgah Sangam, in the old Srinagar and fired point-blank at the two, who died of their injuries on the way to hospital.
The victims were identified as Principal Supinder Kour from Beerwah area of Budgam district and Kashmiri Pandit Deepak Chand.
It may be mentioned that Grand Mufti of Kashmir, Nasir ul Islam on Friday spoke out against the target killings. “ I express my sympathy to the victims in these times of grief. We extend complete cooperation to them ( minorities especially Pandits),” the Grand Mufti said.