June 6, 2024
Staff Report
LAHORE:
Students, teachers, and social workers protested against the recent attack on a local private school on June 5. The demonstration, led by an association of private school teachers, took place at Charwazgay Chowk on the Pak-Afghan Highway. Participants held banners demanding peace in the area.
The Landikotal Public School, which offers co-education up to grade four, was targeted by an improvised explosive device (IED) blast a few days ago. The blast damaged the school gate, but no injuries were reported. Before the attack on the school, the house of the school owner, Mehram Shinwari, was also targeted.
Addressing the protestors at Charwazgay, schoolteachers emphasized their commitment to maintaining peace and protecting educational institutions. They urged law enforcement agencies to investigate the blasts thoroughly.
Local sources suggest that the school owner had received extortion calls from numbers in Afghanistan, though he has not confirmed this publicly. Reliable sources reveal that the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has mentioned these extortion calls in the complaint. The police are reluctant to share a copy of the FIR with Voicepk.
This incident is part of a trend of attacks on schools in Khyber. Many schools damaged in attacks in 2007, 2008 and 2009 have yet to be rebuilt, resulting in interrupted learning for the students.