Border Security Force officials stand at a barricade at the Attari-Wagah border crossing with Pakistan, near Amritsar, India, May 1, 2025.
Credit: Reuters Photo
The government of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has closed all madrasas in the region for 10 days, officials said on Thursday, citing fears they would be targeted by Indian strikes following a deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam that killed 26 people.
Islamabad says it has credible intelligence that India intends to launch military action soon, with New Delhi alleging that the attack on tourists was carried out by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
The director of Pakistani occupied Kashmir's Department of Religious Affairs, Hafiz Nazir Ahmad, told Reuters that security officials feared Indian forces may target seminaries and label them as terrroist-training centres.
The notification seen by Reuters, dated April 30, only cited a heatwave as the reason for the closure.
"Right now, we are facing two kinds of heat — one from the weather and the other from (Indian Prime Minister) Modi," Ahmad said of the notification, saying they did not mention the risk of attacks in a bid to avoid panic.
"We held a meeting yesterday in which it was unanimously decided not to put innocent children at risk," Ahmad said.
There are 445 registered madrasas with over 26,000 students enrolled in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, according to the religious affairs department.
Pakistan has said it will respond "assuredly and decisively" to any military action from India, raising the spectre of war between the two nuclear-armed countries.
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is claimed in full, but ruled in parts by both India and Pakistan, and has been the site of two wars and multiple skirmishes.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training terrorists which Islamabad denies, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support. Madrasas have been criticised for radicalising youth towards Islamist extremism.