Pakistani soldiers stand guard on a street as children walk to school in Peshawar on Monday (AFP Photo/A Majeed)
Schools in Pakistan reopened on Monday for the first time since a December 16 Taliban attack at a military-run school in Peshawar.
Gunmen killed 132 schoolchildren as well as more than a dozen teachers and staff, prompting authorities to announce an early and extended winter break.
Schools were initially to reopen on January 5, but the vacations were extended for another week to take necessary security precautions, including installation of cameras and deployment of guards.
As students returned to class Monday, emotions ran high — particularly at Peshawar’s Army Public School, where the attack occurred.
Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif greeted students and their parents at the school as it reopened.
“General Raheel Sharif is in [the] Army Public School right now to receive students and meet their parents. Everyone [is] in high spirit,” Army spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa tweeted.
Defiant students expressed their resolve to continue their education.
“We are undeterred by the terrorists,” students told reporters as they walked into the school.
“I have come to leave my daughter to school. God will protect her,” a teary-eyed woman told reporters.
Meanwhile, the absence of politicians and civilian leaders at the terror-hit school drew sharp criticism on social media.
In a statement, opposition leader Imran Khan, whose Justice Party rules the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, brushed off the censure.
“Planned to be with our brave children who returned to APS (Army Public School) today along with wife Reham Khan and Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but we were advised to postpone [the] visit,” Khan said.
“The chief of the army staff was going today for what we were told was a ‘soft’ opening of the APS. But we will be there with our brave children this week.”
SAMAA TV quoted officials as saying that all missionary schools would remain closed for another week due to security reasons.
“Christian schools including Don Bosco High School, Saint Anthony School, St. Peter's High School, and Lahore Convent will resume didactics from January 19,” the channel said.
Pakistan has strengthened its offensive against the Taliban since the Peshawar attack, ending its six-year-old moratorium on the death penalty in terror cases as well.
It plans to set up nine military courts to hear terrorism-related cases, prompting concern from rights groups who believe the army will use the crisis to wrest more powers from civilian authorities.
The country's liberals have held protests to pressure the government into arresting clerics who praise the Taliban, and into cracking down on sectarian and anti-India militant groups who operate with relative impunity.
Analysts say Pakistan must end its dualist policy -- that tolerates "good" militants while taking action against "bad" ones -- if gains against extremism are to be made sustainable.
Additional reporting by AFP
