Omar Abdullah said "goons" are using the amnesty as an opportunity to throw more stones
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today said some "goons" have taken advantage of the amnesty given to stone-throwers in Kashmir.
Two children were injured, one critically, when
unknown people threw stones at a school bus on Wednesday morning in Shopian in south Kashmir. There were more than 50 children on the bus, including four-year-old nursery students of a private school.
"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," Omar Abdullah tweeted.
He said the "goons" were determined to use the amnesty as an opportunity to throw more stones.
In January, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had announced amnesty for people who were caught throwing stones for the "first time" since 2008.Ms Mufti also strongly condemned Wednesday's attack on the school bus. "Shocked and angered to hear of the attack on a school bus in Shopian. The perpetrators of this senseless and cowardly act will be brought to justice," she tweeted.
The police are looking for the stone-throwers. It is not clear whether the school bus was the target of the stone throwers or it was caught in clashes.
In January, at Gurgaon in the national capital territory, a school bus was the target of a mob protesting against the film Padmaavat. More than a dozen children of the GD Goenka World School, from nursery to Class 12, were on the bus on their way home, when teachers and students had to duck between the seats, to take cover from the hail of stones.
With inputs from PTI