Srinagar
In occupied Kashmir, the wounds of the victims of the Wular tragedy are still fresh despite the passage of fourteen years.
Sixteen school children and a teacher were drowned on May 30, 2006 when a Navy boat in which they were taking a joyride capsized.
Three busloads of children of the Burning Candle School of Handwara had come for a picnic at a hilltop shrine on the banks of the Wular, some 70 km north of Srinagar. The children were mostly below 10 years of age.
When the children asked for a boat ride on the lake, the teachers approached a sailor, who put them in a motorboat. About 3:30 p.m. the boat capsized, apparently while negotiating a sharp turn.
On the occasion of their 14th death anniversary, condolence ceremonies were organized in their memory in Handwara and its suburbs while Fateha was offered for the departed souls at the Mazar-e-Shuhada in Handwara.
The parents of the children who died in the incident say that the promises made to them after the tragedy have not been fulfilled and justice has not been served.—KMS
