Charsadda varsity shut over security concerns

CHARSADDA: The Bacha Khan University was closed indefinitely on Monday when it briefly reopened five days after terrorists killed 21 people, mostly students, in an attack that bore chilling resemblance to the 2014 bloody rampage by Taliban gunmen at the Army Public School in Peshawar.

“The students and staff gathered on the campus in the morning where they offered Fateha for the martyrs of Wednesday’s attack,” Saeed Khan Khalil, the public relations officer of the university, told The Express Tribune. Later, a high-level meeting of the university administration was convened to decide whether or not academic work should be resumed.

“The meeting decided that since the students, their parents and relatives are in shock, and so is the staff, it is better to close the university,” Khalil said. “Moreover, the university building requires repairs and security arrangements need to be reevaluated,” he added. “The meeting decided the university will remain shut until all these issues are addressed.”

The administration demanded that the government provide automatic guns to the campus guards, install walkthrough gates, and deploy paramilitary FC troops to boost security, he said. It also asked the government to hire a retired military officer to supervise security on the campus and issue weapon licences to faculty members.

On Monday morning when the university briefly reopened, students and parents visited the campus where huge contingents of police and security forces were deployed. The students who survived the assault told bone-chilling details of what happened on the campus on Wednesday.

“It was a nightmare. The harrowing memories of the mass killings will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Musa Khan Mohmand, a B.Sc. (Biology) student, told The Express Tribune. “The terrorists have killed our colleagues but they can never shake our resolve to seek education.”

Some students also staged a peaceful demonstration outside the campus. They marched to the Charsadda bazaar, where student leaders demanded that the perpetrators of the deadly assault be hanged publicly. Students from Govt Degree College Shabqadar also staged a walk to express solidarity with the students of Bach Khan University.

A fact-finding committee of the provincial administration visited the university. The committee, comprising Peshawar’s commissioner, DIG Mardan, education secretary and deputy commissioner of Charsadda, recoded statements of the university administration, faculty members and students.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th,  2016.