Zakir Musa killing: Several educational institutions remain closed in Kashmir

Classes at several educational institutions in Kashmir remained suspended on Monday to thwart student protests following the killing of Zakir Musa, the chief of an Al-Qaeda affiliate, in an encounter in Pulwama district last week, officials said.

While many schools conducted normal operations till Class 10, all higher secondary schools and degree colleges in Srinagar, Budgam and Kupwara districts remained suspended as a precautionary measure, the officials said.

Classes were also suspended in colleges and higher secondary schools of Baramulla town, Sopore and Pattan in Baramulla district, and some in Ganderbal district, they said.

The teaching was suspended in degree colleges and four higher secondary schools—two in Bandipora and one each in Sumbal and Hajin area—of Bandipora district, they said.

In Anantnag district, classes in degree colleges and higher secondary schools of Anantnag and Bijbehara towns was suspended on Monday. In Kulgam, classes remained suspended in all degree colleges and at higher secondary school Nehama, the officials said.

All schools and colleges remained closed in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, while the classes remained suspended at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora.

Musa, the head of the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda, was trapped on Thursday after the security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in a village in Tral area. The encounter ended on Friday with Musa’s killing.

The authorities ordered closure of all schools and colleges across Kashmir as a precautionary measure and clamped curfew in parts of the Valley.