Monday, February 2, 2009
Taliban strike with regularity: impose a ban on the education of girls
I have such fond childhood memories of summer holidays in the Swat Valley in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, a place well known among Pakistanis for its breathtaking views, cool summer climate and lush fruit orchards. But today the Swat Valley is experiencing heartbreaking pressures, as the Taliban strike with disconcerting regularity and, among other atrocities, impose a ban on the education of girls.
Even before this ban was put in place on January 15, more than 100 schools for girls in Swat, as well as more than 150 such schools in the greater Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), had been shut down, many after being bombed or torched, leaving approximately 100,000 girls out of school. Radio announcements warned girls that they could be attacked with acid if they dared to attend school, and teachers have been threatened and killed. Recently, five more Swat Valley schools were bombed.
The attacks and threats have not been confined to school girls. Women and girls have been ordered to wear full veils. Directives have been issued requiring that women be accompanied by male family members in public places and forbidding women from carrying compulsory government identification cards displaying their photographs.
To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
Even before this ban was put in place on January 15, more than 100 schools for girls in Swat, as well as more than 150 such schools in the greater Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), had been shut down, many after being bombed or torched, leaving approximately 100,000 girls out of school. Radio announcements warned girls that they could be attacked with acid if they dared to attend school, and teachers have been threatened and killed. Recently, five more Swat Valley schools were bombed.
The attacks and threats have not been confined to school girls. Women and girls have been ordered to wear full veils. Directives have been issued requiring that women be accompanied by male family members in public places and forbidding women from carrying compulsory government identification cards displaying their photographs.
To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
Labels: ban on the education of girls, childhood memories, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, government identification cards, pakistan, Swat Valley, Taliban, Taliban strike
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