Students At Kashmiri Christian School Burned Down By Muslim Fanatics Were 100% Muslim

For some bizarre reason there are certain Muslims who have a penchant for burning things up. I'm not sure what their fascination with fire is, but it happens all the time. Something irks them and they burn flags, churches, temples, schools whatever they can get their hands on. Instead of demonstrating their displeasure at something through civilized means they resort to violence and they don't care who or what is targeted.

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Take the "Burn the Qu'ran Day' that never really happened, and something I did not approve of by any means. Yes, there were threats and there might have been a few rogue individuals around the world who actually did destroy a Qu'ran or two, but the threat by an American Pastor, Rev. Terry Jones, a religious fanatic who should never have been paid attention to sent the Muslim world into paroxysms of rage. And even though it didn't happen they decided to retaliate through violence.

And, ironically, one 'Christian school' that was burnt down by crazed Muslim fanatics in response to Rev. Jones' threats was actually a school whose pupils were totally Muslim, with not one Christian student.

“The community we were serving was 100 per cent Muslim,” said bitterly Pravez Samuel Kaul, principal of the Tyndale Biscoe School, which is now but smouldering ashes as a result of the ‘Burn-the Qur‘an’ proposal launched in the United States by Rev Terry Jones. “Ironically, our library had many copies of the Holy Qur‘an,” he said.

Ma Kaul, who is Anglican, has worked in the education field in Kashmir for 26 years. His tale of destruction is also the story of how law enforcement underestimated the situation and moved in too late. It is also the story of how the fundamentalism of so many quickly turned against the school, and themselves. “The impact of the loss [of the school] will be felt firstly by Muslims themselves,” Kaul said. Here is what he told AsiaNews.”

The Tyndale Biscoe School belongs to Church of North India and is a branch of the Tyndale Biscoe and Mallinson Educational Society in Jammu and Kashmir

The school in Tanmarg, which is to the north-west of Srinagar, was designed to serve the people living in this rural area. Tanmarg is completely rural and there are no Christians. The community we served was 100 per cent Muslim. Our society, the Tyndale Biscoe and Mallinson Educational Society, has been here since 1880. It was our contribution to rural society, providing holistic values based on quality secular education. All of our staff, teaching and non-teaching, is also made up of Muslims.

And why would they target Christians in Pakistan when it was one Christian in the United States that started the whole fiasco?

So now they have no school, and they are guilty of burning Qu'rans themselves. How's that for irony?!

Of course, it was the local mosque that set the violence in motion, which is often the case.

On Sunday night, in Kashmir, the local Masjid (mosque) showed a video-clip from an Iranian news channel of the reported desecration. After the mosque called for a mass gathering, people stayed out until 4 am of the next day.

The local authorities did nothing, assuming people would disperse after the protest. Our request for security went unheeded.

The crowd grew until 15-20,000 people marched on to the school, which is just one kilometre and half away from where the gathering took place. When they arrived, they began vandalising the building, and then set it on fire. The whole three-storey structure with 26 classrooms, library, and computer labs burnt down to the ground.

Ironically, our library had various copies of the Qur‘an. In half an hour, the building was gone since it was made of wood.

Before burning it, the mob vandalised it. Ours was a beautiful school—we had just finished painting it two weeks ago. It was spread over three acres but now it stands desolate and ravaged.

The destruction is the product of uncontrolled fanaticism. I was told that during that the attack by the angry mob, someone asked, “Why should a Christian school be present in our village?”

Our founder, Mr Biscoe, believed in empowering people through education. This school in rural Kashmir has been serving Kashmir’s rural society for the past 150 years. Currently, our school was serving 150 villages, all Muslims. The impact of the loss will be felt firstly by Muslims themselves. Across Kashmir, our organisation is connected to at least 7,000 families, all Muslim.

I sincerely pray that religious leaders may preach love for their neighbours. Sadly, many think like fundamentalists, something that leads to all sorts of incidents.

It is sad to say that on the day of Eid, thousands and thousands of people were outside our campus in Srinagar. At the gathering, Muslim leaders slammed the ‘Burn-the Qur‘an’ campaign, but they also acknowledged publicly the contributions made by Christians to Kashmiri society. They also emphasised how the tiny Christian community has contributed a lot in the fields of education and health care.

Here were Christians, out of the kindness of their hearts, giving Muslim children a secular education, hopefully bringing them out of the ignorance that causes 20,000 people to set a school on fire, and they're repaid with burnt ashes.

Why so much anger? Why so much hate? We will never get along as long as this unabated anger and hatred is allowed to take control of people.