Deadly Pakistani school attack raises security questions

The leader of the splinter Taliban group that claimed responsibility for the attack, Khalifa Umar Mansoor, said in a video released Friday on social media that the Charsadda assault was just the start and promised his followers would hit the “evil democratic system” at its base.

Students of various federal educational institutions on Thursday staged demonstration against terrorists attack at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.

The Bacha Khan strike, which Amnesty International said could be labeled a war crime, earned international condemnation, including from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and from neighbouring India. “We will target and demolish the foundations”, he said.

“We are not safe”, Ajun Khan, who lost his only son Asfand in the attack on the Peshawar school, told AFP Wednesday.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that his government was determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from Pakistan.

Gunmen stormed Bacha Khan University named after the founder of an anti-Taliban political party in the country’s northwest Wednesday, killing many people, officials said.

There were over 3,000 students inside the university along with an additional 600 guests who had arrived to attend a poetic symposium to mark the death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan who died on January 20, 1988.

Many the pupil casualties perished in a hostel for young men where the four attackers were cornered by security forces.

And once again, the blood of students and teachers stained classrooms and hallways, raising questions about whether security forces are able to protect the country’s educational institutions from extremists.

“The Pakistani government and terrorist outfits supported by Pakistan are responsible for both the attacks”.

Numerous dead were apparently shot in the head execution-style, TV footage showed.

“The incident happened yesterday is not for the first time, if they (terrorists) want to scare us and the children, we will never get frightened by them”.

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.

Talking about the recent attack Abdullah said, “The mastermind and the handler of the attack are usually not present at the location”. Teachers and lecturers in northwestern Pakistan have been allowed to carry weapons since the Peshawar school attack.