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| India-Pakistan |
| Assault on education |
| 2014-12-18 |
| [DAWN] THE atrocity in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. on Tuesday underscores the particular vulnerability of schoolchildren and educational institutions in Pakistain. In essence, schools and the young learners within them are perhaps the most vulnerable of all the 'soft' targets on the krazed killers' hit list. For long, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... and Fata have witnessed krazed killer violence targeting schools. For example, as per an International Crisis Group report, in the period from 2009 to 2012, between 800 to 900 schools were attacked in KP and the tribal areas. In most of these incidents the turbans chose to strike empty schools, in a symbolic gesture, without causing many casualties. But perhaps out of frustration, the krazed killer camp has shed any inhibitions about targeting schoolchildren and now has no qualms about slaughtering students, as the Peshawar tragedy shows. Girls' education has been a particular thorn in the obscurantists' side. The conflict in the tribal belt has also upset the education of local children in other ways, as thousands of families have fled the region for safer climes. Fata and KP are not the only areas where education has come under attack. A school principal was killed in an incident in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... carried out by suspected snuffies last year, while also in 2013 a terrorist assault on a university bus in Quetta killed a number of female students. This year, too, began on a bloody note, when a jacket wallah targeted a school in Hangu. Were it not for the selfless heroism and sacrifice of young Aitzaz Hasan, a student who confronted the bomber and tackled him, greater carnage could have resulted in the schoolhouse packed with students. Unfortunately, this time around there was no Aitzaz to confront the monsters who stormed the Army Public School. The snuffies have declared war on education, and by extension on society. Perhaps only Nigeria's dreaded Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... outfit has a more ferocious anti-education agenda in the murky global krazed killer spectrum. There, of course, needs to be greater security of schools, especially in vulnerable areas. But more than posting a policeman or paramilitary trooper outside every threatened school, a more long-term solution is required. For too long, violent obscurantists have been allowed to publicly spew venom on modern education in Pakistain with barely any reaction from the state. It is time these avowed opponents of learning were taken to task and uprooted in order to allow the youth of this country to build a brighter, literate future. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 I guess add "learning" to the rather voluminous list of things that are un-islamic. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2014-12-18 17:22 |
| #1 obscurantists? That sounds like a Kim Jong Un zinger! |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2014-12-18 17:20 |