The bombed schools of Pakistan

Violent attacks by armed groups in the federally administered tribal areas (FATA) of Pakistan has not only resulted in the loss of lives but also hit the education system hard in the region bordering Afghanistan.

More than 450 schools in the northwest area of the country have been destroyed in attacks, forcing students to stop attending schools or learn outside amid the ruins.

The destruction of the schools appears to have negatively impacted the female literacy rate. A large number of girls and women have been forced to seek education in other districts such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as the law and order situation worsens.

The Pakistani government and its education division have made promises to improve the system and infrastructure, but the conditions of the buildings shown in the images tell a different story.

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/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Children look at the ruins of their school that was blown up by armed groups in Azam Khel village near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to the federally administered tribal areas, FATA, secretariat, more than 450 educational institutions - including dozens of schools for girls - have been bombed since 2008.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Teachers stand on the rubble of a school in Shalman village after an attack. According to Ahmad Khan, principal in one of the schools in the region, students were pulled out of their school after the attack and teachers resigned after receiving threats from rebels. Fearing more attacks, he closed the school.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Students attend class in the open air in the remote area of Tirah Valley in Khyber tribal agency of FATA, where security forces re-opened educational institutions after five years.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Students have to sit on the ground in classes since the furniture destroyed in the attacks have yet not been replaced.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Students in Landi Kotal town in FATA said that despite the threats and fear of rebel attacks, they attended school everyday.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Ajmal Mansoor, a student in the second grade, said: "I was sleeping when I heard the booming sound of the blast in the school near my home. My parents asked me not to go to the school but still I attend the school."



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

A senior student teaches his juniors as they sit among the debris of a destroyed school.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Students use the main gate of their school as a blackboard.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera




Students sit in this dilapidated school as the teacher reads a newspaper.




Tribal elder Noushad Yousaf visits the school that was bombed by armed groups in Shekhmal area.







/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Last year, the FATA's education department said that the male literacy rate was 36 percent while it was only 10 percent for females.






/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

A female teacher in the Jamrud subdivision gives lessons in the open air

Books, Tents Provided to Schools in Khyber Agency

BARA, June 1: The Education department of Khyber Agency has distributed 6,000 books among schoolchildren in Tirah Maidan area.
The Agency Education Officer, Mr Ateequr Rehman, visited Tirah Maidan and distributed books, school bags, other items among children. About 36 tents were also given to the schools which have been destroyed in terrorist attacks.
Mr Ateequr Rehman told TNN, “We have 15 community schools, 8 regular schools, and 17 private schools. We analysed all the schools to identify their basic needs. We distributed 6,000 books and 36 tents, which had been given to us by UNICEF. We appeal to children to join their schools as their teachers and schools are waiting for them now.”
The displaced people of Tirah have stated returning to their native areas where educational institutions reopened.

Report by TNN

Two Commanders of LI KIill in Bara KhyberAgency

LANDI KOTAL: Two activists of a banned militant group were killed and two others were injured in a clash with security forces in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Sunday.

Officials said that a convoy of security forces was on a routine patrol in the area when armed members of Lashkar-i-Islam attacked it. Two militants identified as Hassan and Mehmud were killed in retaliatory firing, they said.

Officials said that two attackers were also injured in the incident while the remaining managed to flee. The killed and injured militants were close aides of Qari Hidayat and Jalil, two local commanders of Lashkar-i-Islam.

Sources said that the attack was a reaction to air strikes on Lashkar-i-Islam base in Nala Malakdinkhel area on Friday night. Security officials claimed to have killed 10 militants in the air strike but local sources said that some members of Lashkar-i-Islam were injured in the strikes.

Meanwhile, headless body of an unidentified person was found in Speena Khawra area of Jamrud tehsil on Sunday.

Local people informed Khasadar Force about the body, which was buried when no one recognised the deceased.

In Dir Lower, a policeman was killed in a roadside blast in Warsak Kandaro area on Sunday morning.

Officials said that a van of Asbanr police station was on routine patrolling in the area when it was targeted by an improvised explosive device, planted on the roadside. They said that a constable identified as Islam Gul was killed in the blast.

The killed policeman was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Sia Adenzai with full official honour. DPO Ghulam Habib, Col Arshad and other officials were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, a man was killed and his father was injured when unidentified persons opened firing on them in Mian Cham Samar Bagh on Sunday.

Local people said that Shahenshah and his father Faiz Ali Khan were working in their fields when the attackers opened firing on them. Shahenshah was killed on the spot while Faiz Ali suffered critical injuries. The injured was referred to Peshawar in precarious condition. The motive behind the incident could not be ascertained.

In Peshawar, an elder of Badhber received minor injuries when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle at Faqirabad Chowk on Sunday.

An official of Badhber police station said that Hakeem Khan was going from his village Mashokhel to Peshawar city when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near his vehicle at Faqirabad Chowk. The vehicle was damaged badly and Hakeem Khan sustained minor injuries.

Meanwhile, at least 88 suspects including some foreigners were arrested during a search operation in Hayatabad here on Sunday.

An official said that hundreds of policemen and policewomen took part in the search operation conducted in Phase-5, 6 and 7 of Hayatabad. He said that hundreds of houses were searched during the operation.

Another official said that police seized weapons and explosives during raids in different suburban localities and took several people into custody.

In Swabi, about 170 suspects were arrested in a midnight search operation conducted jointly by Swabi and Mardan police in a village near Buner district.

District Police Officer Sajjad Khan told a press conference here on Sunday that the operation was carried out in Malikabad village.

Hand grenades, fuses and rocket launchers were seized during the operation.

The official said that a high profile wanted man identified as Khurram Mansoor alias Qazafi, involved in various anti-state activities, was among the arrested persons.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2014

Militants Destroy School, Set Two Houses on Fire in Bara

PESHAWAR: Militants on Saturday destroyed another primary school in Tehsil Bara of Khyber Agency with explosives and set two houses of members of peace militia on fire.
According to official sources, militants planted explosives in boys' primary school in Aka Khel area of Bara that badly damaged the school building.
It is pertinent to mention that educational institutions were closed down in Tehsil Bara due to curfew therefore, fortunately no loss of life occurred.
A total of 70 schools and educational institutions have so far been destroyed by the militants in Khyber Agency in the past three years.
Meanwhile, extremists set on fire two empty houses, owned by the members of Aman Lashkar (peace militia) in Aka Khel area.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2013

Khyber Agency: Three bodies found killed by tribal Militia

villagers found three bodies on Wednesday in an area in the Khyber tribal region where a tribal militia had publicly executed three men earlier this week after accusing them of being cohorts of a powerful militant commander.The bodies, bearing gunshot wounds, were discovered in the Zakhakhel bazaar area of Landi Kotal subdivision. An official of the Khasadar force (tribal police) identified the dead as Khanay, Jumma Khan and Aryana.The official blamed a local militia, Tauheed-e-Islam. “These men were shot dead for allegedly spying for the banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) and planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the area,” the official said on condition of anonymity. He added that the militia has claimed responsibility for the grisly murders. An official of the political administration confirmed the deaths but said the dead men ‘could not be identified’ and refused to say how they were killed.On March 17, the Tauheed-e-Islam militia had publicly executed three suspected LeI members in the same area, though security forces and political authorities denied any such executions in the region.Search operationSecurity forces have rounded up eight suspected militants during a search operation in Kandaokhel area since Tuesday night. They also defused two bombs planted at the Landikotal helipad, according to official sources.On March 18, 14 bodies, bearing torture marks, were discovered by villagers in the Bara subdivision of Khyber Agency.Local residents blamed the paramilitary Frontier Corps, which is conducting operations in the area, for the killing – an allegation that the force denied. 4 killed in N WaziristanAt least four people were killed and eight injured in separate incidents of violence in North Waziristan agency.
“Clashes between the Hurmaz and Muski sub-tribes in Mir Ali sub-division left one person killed and five other injured,” said an official of the political administration.Eyewitnesses told The Express Tribune that the sub-tribes exchanged heavy gunfire over a land dispute. Tribal elders inter­­vened late evening and proposed a jirga.In another tribal feud, three people were killed and three others were injured when two families clashed over the ownership of the Datta Khel bus stand. The culprits involved in the killings managed to escape. Later, a routine patrol by security forces resulted in their vehicle being hit by a roadside bomb, in the Khathonry area, North Waziristan.

(With additional input by our correspondent in MiraMshah)

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2012.

Clash kills six in Khyber agency: officials

Four members of a local peace committee and two militants were killed during an exchange of fire in Akakhel area, said a senior official.—File photo



PESHAWAR: At least six people were killed in a clash between militants and members of a local pro-government militia in Pakistan's Khyber tribal district on Thursday, officials said.

The area close to the border with Afghanistan has been plagued by fighting between armed forces and militants tied to the Pakistani Taliban, and fresh fears of unrest caused more than 18,000 people to flee the district last month.

Four members of a local peace committee, or pro-government militia, and two militants were killed during an exchange of fire, senior local administration official Rehan Gul Khattak told AFP.

“Militants with Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam) attacked a patrol of the local peace committee, which triggered a gunfight in Akakhel area,” he said, adding that the more than 30 militants escaped following the attack.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the incident and casualties.

Pakistan's army has previously launched a series of offensives targeting the Lashkar-e-Islam, a Taliban-allied militant group waging a local insurgency.

The Black Constitution Act 1901

Pakistani citizenship does not apply to FATA Aftab shiekh formed the senate
Tribal Areas Act 1901 is applicable in FATA can not keep Christians from a certified Tribe, domicile l may not given.
State Constitution misinterpreted and are valid guilty of treason, be told what law applies in FATA, Aitzaz Ahsan ...

Islamabad (Online) Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Immigration and shocked, saying that the Senate of Pakistan Citizenship Act does not apply to tribal areas the issue is sent to the Senate by the relevant Standing Committee on Thursday Achievements are jobs on the property buy are also eligible. He further informed the House of the Act of 1901 applies to FATA and Pakistan Citizenship Act does not apply to the opposition leader Aitzaz Ahsan said the prime minister has misinterpreted the Constitution and the Constitution treason in FATA if Pakistan does not ask citizenship law then ask what law is.

The state is equivalent to the full House for a surprise at the minister asked the chairman of the Senate Act, which applies to FATA However the appropriate response to the Senate Standing Committee sent to discussion issue .