UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned terrorist attack by armed militants at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, and called for bringing the perpetrators to justice.
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Afghan officials see Pakistan’s suggestion that Afghans are supporting cross-border attacks as an attempt to distract attention from what they say is Pakistan’s long history of supporting Afghanistan’s Taliban movement and other insurgent factions.
Wednesday’s attack also has symbolic significance, as Bacha Khan University is named a Pashtun leader who believed in nonviolent struggle.
Wednesday’s attack began shortly after classes started at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, a town about 20 miles outside Peshawar, said Deputy Commissioner Tahir Zafar.
The attack is taking place on the campus in Charsadda, northwest of Islamabad The attack is taking place on the campus in Charsadda, northwest of Islamabad.
Students said the attackers opened fire indiscriminately.
The assault bore a chilling resemblance to a 2014 massacre at a school in nearby Peshawar which shocked the nation and prompted an escalation of a national crackdown on extremism.
Two of the attackers also attacked the chemistry department of the university and killed a professor before the security forces arrived.
“He was holding a pistol in his hand”, he told AFP.
“The militants have been divided into two groups to launch terror attacks on educational institutions, airports, airbases and members of security forces as well as law-enforcing agencies”, stated the key points of the secret report.
A breakaway Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the assault – the same faction, headed by Khalifa Umar Mansoor, which had claimed the Peshawar school assault.
“Adil is the one who helped the attackers carry out reconnaissance of the area around the university”. The attack coincided with the 28th anniversary of Bacha Khan’s death on January 20, 1988.
Girls’ schools have been particularly vulnerable to extremists’ attempts to prevent Western-style education. One turning point was the Taliban attempt on the life of the schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012, transforming her into a global icon of courage and energizing other education campaigners in Pakistan.
“I was terrified after APS”, he said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum, vowed to step up the fight against the Taliban. He said Pakistan desires peace in Afghanistan and the recent Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad was a big step in that direction. “The terrorists are on the run”, he contended.
All four attackers were killed – including two shot dead by snipers – according to the Pakistan army. However, Pakistan’s Foreign Office has said today that it is too early to draw conclusions regarding who was behind the deadly attack.
Flags on official buildings and the parliament are flying at half-staff and police have stepped up security at schools and educational centers across the country.
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There’re around 64,000 educational institutions in the province alone, he said, and defended measures already taken.
