Rahul Gandhi to adopt 22 Poonch children orphaned in Pak shelling

Former Congress chief and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has decided to “adopt” 22 children who lost their parents during the India-Pakistan conflict in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, said Tariq Hamid Karra, Congress’s Jammu and Kashmir unit president.

Karra explained that Rahul will bear the educational expenses of 22 children in Poonch who lost both their parents or the sole bread-winner in their family due to shelling by Pakistani forces, according to a report by the Indian Express.

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The first installment of the funds would be disbursed on Wednesday (July 30) to ensure that the children will be able to continue with their studies uninterrupted. Karra said that the financial assistance would continue till they graduated.

Names finalised after survey

During a visit in May, Rahul had asked Congress leaders in the Poonch area to draw up a list of children who were affected during the conflict. The leaders conducted a survey and finalised the list of names after checking government records.

Rahul also paid a visit to Christ Public School in Poonch to interact with students and staff. Two students from the school, 12-year-old twins, had lost their lives in the shelling.

Also Read: Rahul meets victims of Pak shelling in Poonch, says damage is 'big tragedy'

The Congress leader told the children that he was very proud of them for dealing with the loss of two of their friends, for which he was very sorry. He assured them that things would go back to normal, and the right way for them to respond to the situation was to “study really hard, play really hard, and make a lot of friends in school”.

The town of Poonch was affected very badly during the cross-border shelling by Pakistani forces. One student was killed and about six were injured when a religious school was hit during the conflict.