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THE ESCALATION of tension between India and Pakistan, following the beheading of two Indian soldiers by a Pakistani border team on Monday, has had an unexpected fallout. Around 50 Pakistani children, who crossed the Wagah border on Monday for a five-day exchange programme to promote “peace and harmony”, have been sent back.
“An NGO had invited Pakistani school students here. They came to India on the same day when the barbaric and inhuman act of killing and mutilating our soldiers happened. The ministry advised the NGO that it was not an appropriate time for such exchanges after we learnt that the children had crossed over to India on May 1,” said Gopal Baglay, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The students, aged between 11-15, had visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Monday afternoon, and arrived in Delhi that evening. Following a sight-seeing trip in the capital, they were to visit Agra and participate in an exchange of experiences with Indian students at the Pakistan Embassy.
Organised by Delhi-based NGO, Routes2Roots, the visit, earlier slated for October 2016, was cancelled at the time in the wake of the announcement of surgical strikes by India along the LoC in September.
The visit by children from various schools in Pakistan, along with their principals, was the culmination of a year-long exchange programme, in which students from both sides become pen friends by writing letters, sending postcards and collages to each other.
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