Attack on education: Girls primary school in Mohmand blown up

GHALLANAI:

A government girls primary school was blown up by unidentified assailants in Haleemzai, Mohmand Agency late Monday night.

Political administration official Rasool Khan confirmed the incident. Malik Nadir Khan, owner of the school, said that it had been constructed in 1988, but no staff were currently working on the premises as no employees had been sanctioned by the education department. The school  has not been functioning for the past 24 years and no education department officials were available for comments on the issue.

The administration launched a search operation and arrested three suspects under the Frontier Crimes Regulation. As this was a state constructed school, this pushed the total number of government schools blown up in Mohmand to 103.

In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), schools and other state institutions usually need to pay significant monetary contributions to officials in charge of government departments or they need a recommendation from public representatives to start their projects.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2012.