Teacher brings gun to school, threatens to kill student

Police on look out for Abbottabad Public School teacher who has history of violent conduct

ABBOTTABAD: The concept of armed teachers in classrooms took a turn for the worse when one teacher pointed his gun at a student, threatening to kill him for reporting him.

Based on a police complaint lodged against Inyatur Rehman, he taught mathematics to grade 10 students at the Abbottabad Public School.

He had reportedly subjected a student to corporal punishment.

The student complained to his father who in turn complained about the teacher to the school’s principal.

Subsequently, a two-member committee from the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Abbottabad conducted an inquiry.

This incensed Rehman, who forced the student to stay back after school.

When other students had left, Rehman, along with chemistry teacher Hafeezur Rehman, confronted the student and demanded that he withdraw the complaint.

Hafeez then allegedly pulled a pistol from his pocket, pointed it at the student and threatened to kill him if the complaint was not withdrawn.

When the student narrated the incident to his father, he lodged a criminal complaint against the teachers at the Mirpur police station late last week under Section 34-37, 506 B/34 of the Child Protection Act 2010.

History of violent conduct

Employees of the school, including some senior teacher’s, told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that Hafeez did not have a good track record.

The Army Burn Hall College, in a letter verifying Hafeez’s services, had warned the Abbottabad Public School that he had been asked to resign for bringing a gun to the college, scuffling with a teacher and being indifferent to his professional obligations.

In another verification letter, sent to the Abbottabad Public School by the Hassanabdal Cadet College— a past employer of Hafeez —said that the teacher had been involved in an altercation with some senior cadets leading to a nasty situation involving the reported use of a personal weapon.

An inquiry committee had subsequently found Hafeez at fault and strict disciplinary action was recommended against him. A later appeal by Hafeez was turned down by the college’s board of governors.

Last September, a teacher filed a complaint with the Mirpur Police claiming that Hafeez had attacked him, leaving him wounded.

The Mirpur police station is also investigating cases registered against Hafeez and Inayat.

Till the filing of this report, both teachers were at large.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2018.