Pakistan closes schools in province amid Taliban threats

Four Pakistani Taliban gunmen killed 21 people at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in the country’s northwest on Wednesday after scaling its rear walls, battling security guards and then firing into packed classrooms and hostels.

The “facilitators” behind Bacha Khan University attack were revealed before reporters on Saturday, following a press conference held by Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant-General Asim Bajwa.

“Women wearing traditional veils do not usually undergo a routine body search at the checkpoints”, said Bajwa.

The women are accused of buying weapons for the attackers from a weapons market in the tribal region of Dara Adam Khel, he said. The protesters also demanded fool proof security for educational institutions in the region so that such happenings could be stopped in future.

The group had housed the attackers, procured weapons for them, and bought a rickshaw which was used to travel to the university campus, officials said.

The violence nevertheless shows that militants retain the ability to launch attacks, despite a country-wide anti-terrorism crackdown and a military campaign against their strongholds along the lawless border with Afghanistan. He said the attack on BKU was planned and controlled from Afghanistan as the phone call of commander Omer Mansoor, who later claimed responsibility, was made from Afghanistan.

Pakistan maintains that handlers were in Afghanistan and directing the attack.

Among those killed in Wednesday’s deadly campus attack was 32-year-old assistant chemistry professor Syed Hamid Husain, who died saving his students by firing back at Taliban militants. Improved Security improved in 2015 -but critics have repeatedly warned the government is not taking long-term steps to tackle the underlying causes of extremism.