Sheffield residents' concerns for relatives after loved ones' home cities bombed amid Pakistan-India tensions
Worried Sheffield families have been searching for news of loved ones, after missile attacks on towns where their relatives live.
Missiles were fired at areas in Pakistan-administered Kashmir last night, with India accused of launching the attack, which followed an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir last month. The Indian Government blamed the Pakistan Government for the Pahalgam attack, for which it denied any involvement.
Today, Sheffield families were concerned about relatives in the cities of Muzaffarabad, Kotli, and Bagh, both in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which were hit.
Sajid Mahmood, one of the directors of the Sheffield Pakistan Muslim Centre, on Woodbourn Road, said he had taken a dozen calls this morning from families worried about loved ones in the cities affected.
He was also worried for his own mother, who lives in Kotli.
He said he had now managed to speak to her on the telephone, and added: “One of the blasts was only 500 yards away from her home.
“She is all right, but obviously last night was shocked and worried about what had happened. She heard the sound of the missiles and didn’t know what had happened.”
He said he wanted to see the international community involved in bringing peace to the region, and said he was looking to organise a rally outside Sheffield Town Hall calling for peace in the coming days.
“The other people here in Sheffield with family there are worried as well,” he added. “People don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The area is also in a region where Sheffield has helped build schools, both in Muzaffarabad and in Bagh.
Former Sheffield Council Lib Dems leader Shaffaq Mohammed visited the school in Bagh, which was named Sheffield College because of the city’s involvement in raising money for the project.
It was built after the area was devastated by an earthquake in 2005. He said he understood everyone at the school was safe, but worried.
He urged local communities in Sheffield to stay calm over the tensions, and said police would deal with anyone whose actions led to tensions between the communities spilling over onto the streets of Sheffield.
Both the schools which Sheffield helped to create are safe.
Former chairman of the Sheffield Pakistan Muslim Centre, Mohammad Ali, who worked with Sheffield Council to build a school in Gori Muzaffarabad, said he had spoken to people at the school today, and that everyone was safe. He said the school was closed today.
He added: “There is a lot of nervousness in the community there.”
Sheffield journalist Julia Armstrong, who was involved in the project to build the school in Bagh, said she had spoken to Sardar Shoaib Khan, who helped to build the college and still works there.
She said: “Everyone is safe at the moment but they are clearly very worried. I've visited three times and met so many people whose lives have been badly affected by this long-running conflict between India and Pakistan."
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