| Unidentified
persons are reported to have set ablaze another school in
the Diamer district of Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan
on February 20, raising the number of damaged schools to nine.
According to Daily Times, they were either set ablaze
or bombed since February 16. In the latest incident, a community
girls’ school was burnt down in the Thore valley of Diamer,
160 kilometers south of Gilgit causing no injuries, said police
official Zahir Khan. Police is guarding 200 community schools
being run under the Social Action Programme and funded by
the World Bank to prevent further incidents, added Khan. Meanwhile,
an unnamed official of the Northern Areas Home Department
said that these incidents were occurring due to a decline
in enrolment in seminaries and an increase in government schools.
He said that the area was under the influence of Islamist
extremists who felt threatened about losing their support
base in the district. |
