Sectarian violence or another attack on Pakistan’s fight to educate? Find out what transpired…
Thursday May 4th, early morning at a school where teachers were preparing to conduct examinations and perform their invigilation duties in a school in KPK’s north-western Kurram district, multiple unidentified gun men stormed the staffroom of the Government High School Tari Mangal and were involved in the shooting as per the police officials.
The victims were at least 7 people, including 5 teachers and 2 laborers’ as per reports. The teachers and laborers all were on their respective duties setting out for the day of student exams when this tragic event took place.
One Incident Leading To Another
Officials have said the shooting is possibly linked to another case of killing earlier the same day where a man was shot in his car in the same area. As of right now, the suspects remain on the loose. According to reports, the deputy commissioner for the area Saiful Islam has said the first incident involved the killing of a Sunni Muslim while the second attack at the school was on Shi’ite Muslims. Government and police officials have further commented how this is a possible case of Sunni-Shiite sectarian tensions.
Both incidents have occurred in the area of the Kurram tribal district nearing the Afghanistan border. Local police said they were gathering more information as they investigated the incidents. Though it seems it will take a while before we have more details as the area is inaccessible to journalists and media outlets. For now, the exact motive still remains unclear.
The President Condemns…But Is That Enough?
President Arif Alvi has condemned the attacks while grieving the killing of “on – duty teachers.”
“President Dr. Arif Alvi strongly condemned the killing of 8 teachers in Upper Karam and Para Chinar the President of the country expressed deep grief and sorrow over the killing of teachers on duty in two incidents The attack on teachers by the enemies of knowledge is condemnable, President.”
The President has shared another post on twitter, “hoping the suspects will be arrested soon and punished according to the law.”
The FMO’s Call For Prevention
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister for Pakistan has too, demanded punishment for the attackers and an “immediate and complete investigation of the matter by police and the administration”.
“Chairman Pakistan People’s Party & Foreign Minister @BBhuttoZardari strongly condemns the killing of teachers in Kurram Agency.”
A statement on the PPP’s Twitter quoted him saying these incidents are not to be tolerated and prevention of them must be ensured.
Endless Fight To Educate
The fight to progress and to educate children seems to continue to be a volatile endeavor in the northern districts of the country which over the years have been on and off at the mercy of extremist militants. Among targeting prominent educationists, to girls like Malala fighting for their right to educate and mass shootings massacre such as the APS massacre in Peshawar, now, another attack aimed at 7 innocent people whose only fault was that they ventured out to do their jobs – which is, to teach, or perhaps because they belonged to a different sect?
The country is drowning in inflation – political, social and economic crisis – is just so amiss about its priorities which is frankly, just plain scary. We hope to be able to work towards finding ways to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future and coming out of the darkness that looms.
