According to the school management, some men entered the English Grammar Boys Lower Secondary School in the morning and started to destroy the furniture in the classes.
The school was empty except for some management staff due to the students’ summer vacations.
According to Aslam Rajput, principal of the lower primary school which is located on the same premises, the headmistress of the school, Ayesha, called him and told him that some men were destroying school property. She asked him to go check the situation.
By the time he reached the school, situated in Dastageer 9,the suspects were fleeing the premises. He said that the attackers had been led by a man named Tariq.
Rajput told The Express Tribune that two or three land mafia groups have been coming up to the management and harassing them to hand over the land.
“We told them to file a case in court and if the court orders us to vacate the land we will do so,” he said.
According to police officials, the school was nationalised during the Bhutto government. Police said that the ownership of the land is currently being disputed and the case proceedings are underway in court.
The case regarding the school’s land has been in court since 2006, SHO Manzoor Siddiqi told The Express Tribune.However, the school’s administration has denied that there is a pending case in court.
Rajput said that the land was actually owned by a woman who has died.
Two parties, according to him, are claiming ownership of the property and are fighting to grab the land. Rajput condemned the attack on the school.
SHO said that an FIR, 366/10, has been filed against the attackers. None of the attackers have been arrested yet however the police said that raids are being carried out to find the culprits.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 9th, 2010.
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