Shadow Correspondent
JAMMU, MAY 12:
Barring border districts, schools and other educational institutions across Jammu and Kashmir will reopen from Tuesday after de-escalation in the India-Pakistan military standoff last week.
All educational institutions were closed in the Union Territory from May 9 after tension between India and Pakistan escalated following India targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan under Operation Sindoor to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack.
A top J&K official told ETV Bharat that all educational institutions in Jammu and Kashmir will reopen from tomorrow (May 13), except those in border districts. The official said the decision was taken after they had received inputs from the district administrations.
“All educational institutions will reopen tomorrow. But the resumption of educational activities in institutions falling in border areas might be delayed,” the official added. Authorities have advised residents in border areas to avoid returning to their homes until sanitisation is carried out for leftover explosives, the official added.
J&K Education Minister Sakina Itoo, in a post on X, also confirmed the development. “All schools and colleges to reopen from tomorrow in non-border districts of Jammu as well as Kashmir,” her post read.
two dozen civilians, including children and women, were killed in Pakistani shelling in civilian areas near the Line of Control across J&K. Apart from human casualties, the border areas witnessed massive damage to civilian properties, prompting people to relocate to safe locations and the closure of educational institutions. Hostilities ended on Saturday evening after the ceasefire agreement was reached between India and Pakistan following the US intervention.
For the first time in nearly three weeks, the embattled residents of Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier towns slept through a night free of gunfire, drones, or the distant rumble of fighter jets, the Indian Army confirmed on Monday. The Army said no ceasefire violations or skirmishes were reported overnight along the border, the Line of Control (LoC), or the International Border (IB) with Pakistan.
The calm follows intense diplomatic and military escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, triggered by the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, which left 26 civilians dead. The attack prompted a robust military response from India, culminating in last week’s precision airstrikes under Operation Sindoor, which, according to the Indian Army, neutralised 100 terrorists across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Residents in Jammu’s frontier districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Samba and Kathua, which had borne the brunt of recent strikes, woke up to a sense of relief. “The night remained largely peaceful in Jammu and Kashmir and other areas along the international border. No incident has been reported, marking the first calm night in recent days,” an Indian Army spokesperson said in a statement.
