Children, staff return to Peshawar school for first time after horrific Taliban attack

Pakistani children and staff were returning to a school in northwestern Pakistan where Taliban gunmen nearly a month ago killed 150 people — almost all of them students. Students in green uniforms and their families were returning to the Army Public School in Peshawar on Monday as children across the country returned from an extended winter break. A ceremony was expected to be held at the school in Peshawar where gunmen slaughtered dozens of children in one of the country’s worst attacks by Islamic militants in years. [caption id=“attachment_2040999” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Associated Press[/caption] But classes were not expected to be held until later this week. Security was tight, part of a country-wide move to boost security at schools in the wake of the attack. Provincial Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani told AFP that “all the necessary security measures” have been taken for 35,000 educational institutions, including schools, colleges and universities to re-open on January 12. The government had announced a winter vacation due to security threats after the deadly attack on the military-run school in Peshawar killed 150 people, including 134 children. Ghani also said the authorities would build walls around government-run education institutions which would extend at least eight feet (2.4 metres) high, and would also introduce community policing systems whereby civilians with experience operating weapons would be trained and paid to guard educational facilities. Private sector schools, colleges and universities have meanwhile been issued with strict guidelines with requirements including having guards, Ghani said, adding that schools’ licenses could be revoked if they did not follow the rules. In response to the Taliban attack, Pakistan’s parliament last week passed a constitutional amendment approving the establishment of military courts to hear terrorism-related cases. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also lifted the country’s six-year-old moratorium on the use of the death penalty, reinstating it for terror cases in the wake of the slaughter at the school. AP/AFP