Police foil plot to burn down girls school, college in Ghizer

Local cleric, seminary students among six arrested in Gilgit-Baltistan


Shabbir Mir August 26, 2018
A view of the schools which had been burnt down in Diamer from the inside. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

GILGIT: Six suspected militants were arrested for planning an attack on a girls school and women's college in Gilgit-Baltistan's (G-B) Ghizer district on Sunday.

"We managed to foil their [terrorists'] plan before they could execute it," Deputy Inspector General Gohar Nafees told The Express Tribune.

Nafees said that six of the 13 suspected militants have been taken into custody. He added that 10 were seminary students from the Diamer district.

"The group was headed by local cleric Inayatullah, who has also been nabbed," Nafees said.

Campus opened in G-B where schools were torched

He disclosed that they had planned to target schools being run under the Aga Khan schools system and the women degree college at Ghakuch.

The valley is connected to Diamer, where over two dozen girls schools were torched earlier this month.

“The group was also behind burning of two schools in 2016 and 2017,” the DIG said referring to their confession.

They have confessed to their involvement in failed assassination attempts at Prince Karim Aga Khan, as well as, former G-B governor Karam Ali Shah in a bomb attack back in 2015.

Both the bombs had been defused by police. He said the plot to target the school and college was hatched at the seminary, adding police also recovered explosive material and petrol during the raid.

COMMENTS (2)

Jamal | 5 years ago | Reply Very alarming situation.
Karim | 5 years ago | Reply A very misleading report, again. It wasn't an assassination attempt at the Aga Khan. They wanted to target locals returning from Yasin valley, after attending a congregation where the Aga Khan was present. Aga Khan flew in and out in a chopper. The reporter needs to be investigated for his continuous misleading reports.
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