Last week, India had asked Pakistan to guarantee protection and security of the Indian officials and their family members who are stationed in Islamabad. Protests and marches outside the High commission have spread an insecure feeling amongst the Indian officials placed in Pakistan and this has led to a no-school decision for the Diplomat kids.
The American school or International school of Islamabad and the Roots International School have nearly 50 children and about 10 children of the Indian diplomatic staff members, respectively. The Indian Government had handed over permission for the children to attend only these schools and none other.
Vikas Swarup, spokesman of external affairs ministry, has been “asked make arrangements for education of their wards outside Pakistan” August onwards. He has confirmed that new academic arrangements need to be made, “It is normal practice for all countries to review staffing and related policies for their diplomatic missions, including in view of prevailing circumstances at those stations,” he stated.
The Pakistan foreign office and the authorities at school are taken aback at this decision and have requested the Indian Government to rethink the decision. According to Nafees Zakaria, a spokesman of foreign office, “This is an informal, internal, administrative arrangement we were informed of two months back. No other considerations were communicated to us,” but it seems that the security considerations are paramount for the Indian Government at the moment.
According to an Indian diplomat, India cannot expose their children as soft targets and the current security situation is deteriorating. He explained that it was not sensible to have a huge number of kids under one roof and expose them to any kind of eventuality.
This step has also been taken because the Indian students faced a “movement restriction”. Any trip outside Islamabad needed consent from Pakistani foreign office. The diplomatic missions may be “no-kid” missions or they may include family travel. No school going and no-spouse assignments are reserved for areas like Libya and Iraq, which are termed as conflict zones. Missions to Several nations like Germany, US, France, UK, UN organizations, Australia, Canada, also have the “no-kid” policy, so this step will include Islamabad in the group as well.
In 2009, a blast near the American school had been a shocker for many foreign diplomats. The explosion had affected a University and killed a lot of people. At that time, India purchased bullet proof vehicles and the Indian diplomats and their kids are today travelling in these buses.
Clarifying the current situation, between India and Pakistan, an official has stated “Pakistan has leaked the information now to show that India-Pakistan relations are in tatters, and that it has to do with the situation in Kashmir. The decision is a year old and has no connection whatsoever to Burhan Wani or the current turmoil in Kashmir. The timing only smacks of an effort by Pakistan to internationalize the Kashmir issue 
.”
