Children make an emotional appeal to ULTRA's

With the government finding it tough to prevent damage to property, including schools, at the hand of naxals, little children have now issued a direct emotional appeal to the perpetrators of violence to spare their temples of learning.

With the government finding it tough to prevent damage to property, including schools, at the hand of naxals, little children have now issued a direct emotional appeal to the perpetrators of violence to spare their temples of learning.

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Hundreds of poor school children studying in government schools in the Naxal-affected Aurangabad district have appealed to the Maoists not to damage or target their schools, as it adversely affected their education.

"Maoist uncle, why are you bent upon ruining the career of hundreds of children belonging to underprivileged sections of the society? You too are aware that majority of the children studying in government schools come from poor families, who can not afford to send their wards to public schools where tuition fee is very high," school children wrote in an open letter.

"What is our mistake that you blow up schools and deprive us of education? You may have problems with the police but we fail to understand why are we your enemy? What is our mistake that our schools have become a soft target for you," the school children sought to know from the Maoists involved in blasting the school buildings. "Please show mercy on us," they said.

According to police sources, the Maoists in different Naxal-infested districts have blown up over 20 school buildings. At least, ten school buildings were blown up or badly damaged in Aurangabad, Gaya, Rohtas and Jehanabad districts, which are the worst Maoist-affected districts.

When contacted, Aurangabad Superintendent of Police Nishant Kumar Tiwary said that the Maoists had blown up some school buildings in remote areas recently. "The Maoists have been targeting school buildings apprehending that these buildings would be used by the central para-military forces," he said.

The SP said that even the villagers have opposed the Maoists' action. "The Maoists, who claimed themselves to be fighting for the cause of the deprived sections of the society, are targeting their children," said Mukesh Kumar, a resident of Dev block in Aurangabad district. The Maoists had blasted a school building in the block on Saturday night.

A senior police officer posted at the state police headquarters said that in most of the cases, the school buildings have been blasted past midnight.

The schools are located on the outskirts of the villages, making the task of the Maoists easy. Fortunately, so far there has been no report of any casualty or injury, he added. Notably, the Maoists had earlier been targeting railway tracks, mobile towers, government buildings, bridges and roads to register their protests.