CHAKOTHI: Schools reopened in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday after some of the residents of border villages returned home, following a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
The truce was reached after four days of intense exchanges of fire as the old enemies targeted each other鈥檚 military installations with missiles and drones, killing dozens of civilians.
In the border town of Chakothi near Line of Control (LoC), attendance was thin at schools as many people, who had moved to safer places due to Indian shelling, were still slowly coming back to the area.
鈥淔or the past many days, my school remained closed due to [cross-border Indian] shelling,鈥� said Junaid Munir, a 6th-grader.
鈥淭oday, it is open. I have to study and get ahead [in life].鈥�
The military confrontation began on May 7, when India said it launched strikes on nine 鈥渢errorist infrastructure鈥� sites in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, following an attack on Hindu tourists by militants in Indian-administered Kashmir鈥檚 Pahalgam town that killed 26 men last month.
Islamabad denied any links to the attack and called for a neutral investigation.
A local school principal said some residents were waiting for a more definitive peace solution before considering to move back to their border town homes.
鈥淪ome of the children, two or three girls, have arrived so far. But [most] parents and the rest of the people have obviously shifted elsewhere,鈥� said Naveed Akhtar, who heads a school in Chakothi.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why children are not here. The message [about reopening of schools] has been conveyed to them, and, God willing, very soon these children will return to school and our academic system will resume.鈥�
Syeda Zohra Kazmi, who studies in 7th grade, said some mortar shells had partially damaged her home, but she insisted on attending classes as the school reopened on Tuesday.
鈥淭here was shelling outside our residence as well, and some shells landed on our house,鈥� she said. 鈥淎s the schools got reopened today, I said I will go to school. I am not afraid of shelling.鈥�