Sindh

Vulnerability to threat: SHC orders survey to assess school security measures

Petitioners claim that schools across the country were at risk after the Peshawar attack.

Our Correspondent May 26, 2015

An official at the Sindh High Court said that SHC chief justice Faisal Arab had taken notice of killing of the police officer. PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has ordered a survey of all schools in order to assess their vulnerability to threats and see what safety measures, including police deployment, have been adopted by the school managements and the provincial government to thwart incidents such as the Army Public School (APS) attack in Peshawar last year.

The education secretary has also been directed to check if the burden of additional security is being passed on to the students, filing a comprehensive report within four weeks.

A division bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, issued these directives on Monday while hearing a petition seeking the relevant authorities to take adequate steps for security at educational institutes following December's attack.

At the outset of the proceedings, Advocate Faisal Siddiqui pointed out that the court had, on the request of various non-governmental organisations, passed various orders to arrange the necessary security measures to protect students from any untoward incident. To date, none of the orders had been complied with, he alleged.

Additional advocate-general Mukesh Kumar requested for time to place on record the measures adopted by the provincial government.

The judges sought a report on the security arrangements within four weeks and adjourned the hearing.

In a joint petition, the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education Research, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and human rights activist Javed Iqbal Burki claimed that the students and employees of educational institutions across the country were under threat after the APS attack that left nearly 148 people dead.

The petitioners stated that nothing had been done to promulgate safety measures in Sindh, where the authorities had put the responsibility of educational institutions' protection on either the school management or the parents.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2015.