If this lax security remains the school attack on Tuesday will not be the last time the Taliban strike at civilian targets in Pakistan.
Pakistani Taliban gunmen stormed into a military-run school in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan on Tuesday, killing scores of teachers and schoolchildren. Fighting almost an eight-hour gun battle with the security forces, the Taliban killed at least 145 people.
An attack on an army-run school on this scale is unheard of, and there will be serious questions asked such as school security.
A spokesperson for the Pakistani Taliban confirmed that his group was responsible for the violent attack and said it was in revenge for the military’s offensive against militants in the North Waziristan tribal district. Such attacks had been previously claimed by the Taliban in retaliation for operations Zarb-e-Azab and Khyber, which Islamabad claims is necessary to eliminate terrorism in northwestern areas.
The military says that the operation has resulted in the death of 1,800 militants and cleared much of North Waziristan, the region’s most notorious hub of militant activities.
The Pakistani military claims that their efforts have dwindled terrorism requires re-examining this policy’s effectiveness as this unspeakable terrorist attack occurred against children at a public school in Peshawar.
According to a report, KPK in 2014 was hit with almost 106 large and small-ranged attacks taking the lives of 334 people. The attacks included religious and public places, schools and other governmental departments but the brutality perpetrated against a school indicates that Pakistan is not sensitive to it, except protecting the army and other state-run facilities.
The Pakistani Taliban, always a loose and chaotic coalition of militant groups, have come under increased pressure this year because of internal frictions and the military’s continuing operation in North Waziristan, which started in June succeeding an audacious attack on the Karachi airport.
If this lax security remains the school attack on Tuesday will not be the last time the Taliban strike at civilian targets in Pakistan.
Aziz Ejaz is a freelance writer, columnist and a poet. He contributes to the Balochistan Point and is subeditor at the Monthly Bolan Voice. Read other articles by Aziz.
