- LGS academic director says they had a rigorous schedule of five days but they had to cut the visit short because of threats
The educational visit to India by Pakistani students and teachers hailing from different branches of Lahore Grammar School (LGS) was marred by the threats of Hindu extremist organisation Shiv Sena. As a result, they had to cut short their five-day-long visit and came back on Wednesday.
According to details, a group of some 42 students and teachers of LGS entered India on Monday through Wagah border on the invitation of a Delhi-based non-government organisation (NGO) Routes 2 Roots (R2R) under the student exchange programme named as ‘Exchange for Change’. The Hindu extremist organisation Shiv Sena hurled threats at the R2R NGO—the host of the programme amid the allegation by the Indian government that Pakistani soldiers have allegedly mutilated the bodies of two Indian soldiers at Line of Control on Monday, the claim that has been rejected by Pakistan.
It is worth mentioning here that the educational trip of Pakistani students to India under the same programme was also postponed last year in October when both the neighbouring countries were locking horns with each other after the Indian claims of ‘surgical strikes’ in the territory of Pakistan.
Talking to Pakistan Today, LGS academic director Meena Gul, who was also visiting India with other 41 participants, said: “We had a very rigorous schedule of five days but we had to cut short our visit because of the threat by some extremist elements.”
She added, “Our hosts and co-founders of R2R Tina Vachani and Rakesh Gupta gave us marvellous reception and both of them were not feeling good when our trip was cut down due to threats,” she added. She revealed that a trip to Agra to visit Taj Mahal was planned for Wednesday and they were scheduled to visit the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi on Thursday in order to meet some Indian students hailing from different schools.
Sharing her experience of visiting India for a brief period, she said that they visited Amritsar on the very first day and their hosts had arranged the visit of Delhi for the second day (Tuesday). “Our hosts welcomed us very passionately as we were staying at a luxurious hotel there and we were escorted to the Wagha border in a very smooth manner amid tight security,” she said. Such cultural exchange programmes are very helpful for the grooming of students, and LGS frequently arranges such programmes, she added. “Our students have visited Singapore, Turkey, Thailand and America in the past for cultural exchange activities,” she said.
As per the R2R NGO, 2400 students participated in the first Exchange for Change programme held between 2010 and 2012 in Lahore, Karachi, Delhi and Mumbai. As many as 3500 students participated in the second round held between 2012 and 2013 in six cities, including Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai under the exchange programme.
Meanwhile, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria condemned the act of extremist elements of India and announced to take up the matter through diplomatic channels.
