Pakistan arrests university attack suspects

Pakistan today chose to form a high-level committee to investigate security arrangements made on the day of the deadly terror attack on Bacha Khan University in which 21 people, mostly students, were killed.

A man mourns the death of his relative outside the Bacha Khan university in the wake of an attack by militants in northwest Pakistan’s Charsadda on January 20, 2016.

Flags on official buildings and parliament are flying at half-mast and police have stepped up security at schools and educational centres across the country.

Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by a high-ranking Pakistani Taliban commander who also allegedly masterminded a massacre on a military-run school in nearby Peshawar in December 2014, which killed at least 142 people – including 132 children.

The university allowed teachers to carry weapons after the Taliban slaughtered over 150 people, mainly children, in Peshawar in 2014, located only 25 miles away.

Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa claimed that the Bacha Khan University attack was planned and handled from Afghanistan, adding that investigating teams had collected enough evidence to support the claim.

The majority of victims were laid to rest late Wednesday according to Muslim tradition, including Husain who was buried in his home village of Swabi as those who knew him paid tribute.

Islamabad-based analyst Imtiaz Gul said the Charsadda attack showed that the objective of Mansoor’s group is to create instability.

Four terrorists, armed with sub-machine guns, pistols and hand grenades, launched the attack around 8.45 a.m. when the campus was enveloped in thick morning fog.

While Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is doing his best to wipe his slate about the attack on Pathankot, there has been an outrage inside his country.

Security forces were still deployed in Charsadda Friday, while in Peshawar, two policemen were shot dead at a checkpoint by unknown gunmen. “We wanted to send the message that education will continue”.

As more details of Wednesday’s assault emerged, attention focused on at least two members of staff who took up arms to resist attackers bent on killing them and their students.

Education institutions in the province on Thursday have opened in routine after an attack in Charsadda claimed 21 lives.

Umar Mansoor, Pakistani Taliban spokesman, said the attack was in retaliation for military operations against the group.

A security official close to the operation said he had seen the four gunmen’s bodies riddled with bullets.

Wednesday’s attack came on the anniversary of the death of the university’s namesake, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Bacha Khan, a pacifist who led nonviolent campaigns against British colonial rule.

As militant violence has risen in Pakistan over the last decade, educational institutions have been particularly vulnerable.