In a deeply disturbing revelation, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed on Friday that two schoolchildren were killed and their parents injured after a Pakistani shell landed behind Christ School in Poonch, Jammu & Kashmir, during heavy cross-border shelling on May 7.
“During heavy shelling across the Line of Control in the early morning of 7 May, a shell fired from Pakistan landed just behind the Christ School in Poonch. The shell hit the home of two students of the school, who unfortunately lost their lives, and their parents sustained injuries,” Misri said during the third Ministry of External Affairs press briefing since the launch of Operation Sindoor.
He added that several staff members and locals took refuge in the school’s underground hall as shelling intensified. The school was closed at the time, potentially preventing larger casualties.
Misri also made a grave allegation against Pakistan, stating that its forces were deliberately targeting places of worship across the LoC, including gurdwaras, churches, and temples. “This is a new low even for Pakistan,” the foreign secretary remarked.
These developments come as tensions continue to rise between the two nations following India’s airstrikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and Pakistan’s retaliatory artillery and drone attacks along the western border and LoC.
