The damaged school bus which was attacked by stone-pelters in Shopian.

SRINAGAR: Two school-going children were injured, one of them critically in the head, when stone-pelters attacked their school bus carrying 50 students in Shopian on Wednesday, drawing sharp criticism against the amnesty granted to stone-pelters by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti last year.

Separately, three tourists were injured in other stone-pelting attacks on tourist vehicles in south Kashmir and in Memander village, a mob lobbed a petrol bomb at the house of PDP MLA Mohammad Yousuf Bhat. The MLA was not present at the time and no casualty was reported.

SSP Shopian Shalender Kumar Mishra told TOI that the school bus of Rainbow International educational institute was attacked by a mob with stones near Zawoora village in Shopian district at about 9.25 in the morning. The stones hit the children as the glass windows of the bus were mostly open.

Of the two children who sustained injuries, 6-year-old Rehan Gorsai, a class II student, was hit in the head. He was shifted to SMHS hospital in Srinagar for specialized treatment and CT scan. 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.

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.

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.

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. The Centre's special representative on Jammu and Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma had also recommended the move to instil confidence among people for a sustained dialogue in J&K. Mehbooba has been considering amnesty to second-time stone pelters too.

However, on Wednesday following the latest attacks on school children and tourists, Omar pointed out,“The amnesty granted to stone-pelters was meant to encourage more reasonable behaviour but some of these goons are determined to use the opportunity given to them to just pelt more stones.” This led to the NC and the PDP members sparring with each other on social media.

Since Hizb commander Burhan Wani was killed in 2016, two consecutive summers have been marred by street violence and militancy in Kashmir, hitting the tourism industry badly. The fear another slump this summer may push the PDP-BJP coalition government to suspend amnesty programme for first-time stone-pelters, sources said.

