Parachinar attacks

At least six school employees, including four teachers, were killed in what appears to be a sectarian attack in the Parachinar area along the Afghan border. The attack stoked outrage and fear in an area that has seen some of the worst violence of the past two decades since the War on Terror began spilling over from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Although things improved for a while, especially after Operation Raddul Fasaad, the recent resurgence of the TTP has been accompanied by a rise in sectarian violence.

Details and context of the attack are still sketchy — the area remains hard to reach for the media and rights workers, and the government can’t keep its story straight. The KP Chief Minister Office tried to write off the incident as a property dispute, even though the regional commissioner left no doubt that sectarianism was the root of the problem. All six people killed in the incident belonged to Shia faith, and local authorities say a Sunni teacher was killed some time earlier. However, locals also said the second incident may be unrelated to the first, given the significant escalation and the fact that violence in the area is mostly within the exclusive domain of the TTP and its offshoots: the TTP have also regularly conducted attacks against ethnic and religious minorities including Hazaras and Shias.

Also concerning is the fact that the attack in a staff room took place while exams were being held at the school, meaning dozens of children and staff in the exam centre could have been at risk. A similar attack recently took place at a college in Lakki Marwat, although that attack was later blamed on the fact that soldiers were camped out on the property. But even if the earlier attack was targeting the military, the recent attack leaves no doubt that terrorists still see schools as a preferred soft target. Unfortunately, despite the Peshawar APS massacre still haunting us, nearly a decade later, it remains to be seen whether law enforcers and security forces have the capacity to keep educational institutes safe.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2023.

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