The Malaysian Insider

ISLAMABAD, Oct 22 — Pakistan yesterday shut down schools and colleges nationwide, as the country went on heightened alert a day after a suicide bombing at a prestigious Islamic university.

Fears of further attacks by Al-Qaeda and Taleban extremists meant millions of students faced disruption as the federal and provincial governments, private school associations and the military decided to close schools, colleges and universities.

Some schools shut earlier this week while the rest of the country followed suit after two suicide bombers on Tuesday blew themselves up at Islamabad’s International Islamic University, killing five people.

“There are around 414 schools, colleges and universities run by the federal government. All have been closed because of security threats received in recent days,” said Education Ministry spokesman Atiqur Rehman.

“Similar orders have been issued by the four provincial governments. We will assess the situation and we hope they will reopen on Monday,” he added.

“It is unfortunate and frustrating for parents. We are taking precautionary measures. We cannot deploy police at every school. We hope principals and heads of institutions will make proper security arrangements,” Rehman said.

Muhammad Irfan, whose five-year-old attends one of Islamabad’s top private schools, said: “We are under constant threat. Our children’s education is suffering. If they can attack an Islamic university, they can do it anywhere.

“We don’t know what to do. We can’t sacrifice our children but neither can we keep them at home.”

Saifullah Khan Mehsud, a political analyst at an Islamabad think-tank, said this is the first time that all of Pakistan’s people have been so directly affected by a terrorist attack.

“The closing of schools is very big in drawing public attention to the costs we Pakistanis are paying because of the militants,” he noted.

Tuesday’s university bombing was the seventh major militant attack in just over a fortnight, and the first since the military launched what officials vowed would be a knockout blow against the Taleban in South Waziristan.

Two explosions seconds apart rocked a male teaching faculty and a women’s cafeteria in what is one of the largest Islamic universities in the world, and one which attracts Muslim students from around the globe.

The attack caused widespread anger among students, who directed their frustration at Interior Minister Rehman Malik for what they see as security lapses.

They chanted slogans, including “Shame, shame”, and pelted his bulletproof vehicle with stones when he visited the blast site on Tuesday.

The students claimed the campus blasts were the result of Pakistan’s involvement in the United States-led war on terror.

It is believed that many of the bombings in Pakistan, as well as attacks in the West, are being planned by Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan.

Officials say at least 105 militants and 13 soldiers have been killed since the military offensive began in the semi-autonomous region on Saturday, and more than 120,000 civilians have now fled the war zone.

Difficult terrain, mines and fierce clashes have slowed Pakistan’s advance and officials admit the offensive could take longer than expected.

There have been heavy clashes on the heights overlooking Kotkai, the home town of Pakistani Taleban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and Qari Hussain, a reputed suicide bomb trainer.

Numerous previous offensives in the tribal belt have met with limited success - costing the lives of 2,000 troops and ending generally with peace agreements that critics say give the insurgents a chance to rearm. — Straits Times