Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will sponsor the education of 22 children who lost either both their parents or the family’s primary earning member due to Pakistani shelling along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, reported PTI on Tuesday.

The party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit chief, Tariq Hamid Karra, told reporters on Monday that the first instalment of the financial aid will be released on Wednesday, according to The Indian Express.

“The assistance will continue till these children graduate,” added Karra.

Tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad had escalated on May 7 when the Indian military carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22.

The Pakistan Army retaliated to Indian strikes by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 22 Indian civilians and seven defence personnel were killed.

The highest number of casualties was reported from the Jammu region of the Union Territory. Fifteen persons died in Poonch district, which came under heavy artillery firing from the Pakistan Army.

On May 10, India and Pakistan reached an “understanding” to halt firing following a four-day conflict.

Gandhi had visited Poonch on May 24. According to Karra, the leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha had directed party leaders in the region to compile a list of children who were orphaned during Operation Sindoor, reported PTI.

“The list was also cross-checked with the administration,” Congress chief spokesperson in Jammu and Kashmir, Ravindra Sharma, was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.

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