File photo. Farooq Naeem—AFP
At least eight people, including seven teachers, were killed in separate attacks at Kurram on Thursday, with district administration claiming the killings were the result of a longstanding land dispute.
In the first incident, local police said a teacher, Muhammad Sharif, was shot dead after unidentified persons opened fire on his vehicle. Allegedly in retaliation, they claimed, armed men had entered the Teri Mangal High School in Upper Kurram and killed six teachers and a staff member.
Identifying the slain teachers as Mir Hussain, Jawad Hussain, Naveed Hussain, Jawad Ali, Muhammad Ali and Ali Hussain, police said they had all belonged to the Turi Bangash tribe and were performing examination duties when they were attacked. Students appearing for exams remained safe.
“Board examinations have been deferred for an indefinite period in Parachinar for now,” said Kohat’s Education Board Chairperson Samina Altaf, adding that examinations in the rest of Kurram would continue as per schedule. All educational institutions in the region have also been shuttered indefinitely, while security was heightened on transportation routes.
Following the shootings, emergency was declared in all hospitals of the area, while the bodies of the slain individuals were sent to their ancestral villages for burial.
While the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister’s office maintained the attacks were the result of a property dispute that stretched back to the 1950s, the regional commissioner said it might have been fueled by sectarianism. “It is not clear whether the second incident [at the school] was a reaction to the first one,” Commissioner Saiful Islam told the Reuters news agency.
In a statement, President Arif Alvi condemned the attacks and expressed his grief over the loss of life. Hoping that the culprits would soon be apprehended and punished per law, he prayed for deceased to be granted entry into Heaven and offered his sympathies to their families. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif likewise offered his condemnations.
Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari also expressed his regrets over the killings, describing it as “terrorism.” Praying for the forgiveness of the deceased, he added: “Criminals involved in the killing of teachers should be brought to justice.”
Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sajid Hussain Turi also demanded strict action against the perpetrators. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said he had sought a report from the interior secretary, and vowed that the perpetrators would be punished. “The killing of teachers on examination duty is a very heinous act,” he said.