[Guardian.co.UK] Apparently, Pakistanis don't need the Taliban to destroy their schools any more – they can do it themselves. Last week, a girls' high school was set ablaze in Pakistan's second largest city, Lahore. And no, the Taliban were not the culprits. A mob, enraged after allegations of blasphemy against a teacher, carried out the attack. Instead of taking action against them, the police arrested the school's 77-year-old owner.
The accused teacher, who allegedly committed blasphemy by photocopying the wrong page of a book for homework, is in hiding. Pakistan may have declared an "education emergency" earlier this year, but it still fails to protect the schools it already has. |