Dawn
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10:51 May 01, 2025
School playing fields in Kashmir are being transformed into first aid camps for children to learn how to respond if war breaks out with India. Wearing a protective helmet and a fluorescent vest, 13-year-old Konain Bibi listened attentively to her first aid lesson. “With India threatening us, there’s a possibility of war, so we’ll all have to support each other,” she told AFP. The federal government has warned that it has “credible intelligence” that India was planning an imminent military strike. Already frosty relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted since a deadly assault on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-held Kashmir last week. India blames Pakistan for the gun attack that killed 26 people on April 22, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his military “complete operational freedom”, although Islamabad has denied any involvement. There are more than 6,000 schools, colleges and universities on the Pakistan side of the border — including 1,195 along the Line of Control (LoC), the heav...