PESHAWAR - The provincial education department suspended principals and head teachers of various government schools in Shangla for closing the schools for public meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa President Ameer Muqam.

On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member of the provincial assembly from Shangla Reshad Khan rejected the allegations and termed the steps taken by the education department as injustice.

The PML-N lawmaker said that actually Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was afraid of growing popularity of PML-N in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and had resorted to defaming the party. “Neither the schools were closed nor the students stood to welcome Ameer Muqam”, Reshad Khan clarified.

Reshad said that the public meeting of the PML-N started at 2 pm while all government-run schools close at 1 pm. It is totally wrong that schools had been closed for the PML-N’s public meeting in Shangla, he added. A day earlier, Ameer Muqam had addressed a public meeting at Shangla, his hometown. It was reported that schools had been closed for the purpose. KP Minister for Elementary Education Atif Khan took notice of the matter following such reports.

The KP education department in a statement said that investigation had been launched against the schoolteachers involved in closure of the schools.

It further said that if teachers were found involved in closing the schools, they would be terminated.