LAKKI MARWAT - Over 150 schools in the district are lacking boundary walls facility which has raised a big question on the government’s claims to have provided foolproof security to the educational institutions after the Army Public School Peshawar terror attack.
The tragic incident, wherein over 150 people including schoolchildren were massacred, prompted the government to close all private and public sector schools for security concerns. The government also issued advisory/guideline for the security of educational institutions and tasked the heads to implement it in letter and spirit.
On January 12 the schools reopened and officials of district administration, police and education department began to check security arrangements at the schools and colleges.
Many heads of educational institutions tried at their own level to appoint a teacher on duty for security, fix sharp edged and pointed pieces of glass on boundary walls, deploy class IV employees at the main gate and on rooftops and install barriers in front of main gates.  But so many heads of schools are also worried as they are unable to follow the security advisory in true spirit mainly due to the lack of boundary walls.
“How is it possible for us to adopt security measures when the schools have no boundary walls,” asked a headmaster wishing not to be named.
He said that the government and law enforcement agencies tasked the heads of educational institutions to make security arrangements at their own and they accepted the responsibility. “But a headmaster or a principal will certainly face tremendous problems to ensure security in letter and spirit if their schools are not equipped with boundary walls,” he maintained.
An official of the education department said that the schools which lacked boundary walls included 3 high, 12 middle and 136 primary schools and that the department had approached quarters concerned to provide over Rs 61 million to equip to provide security to these institutions.
He revealed that the boundary walls in 397 schools including 8 higher secondary, 52 high, 39 middle and 298 primary needed raising height up to required eight feet and fixing barbed wire on them on an urgent basis. “The raising of boundary walls and fixing barbed wires on them will cost over Rs 91 million,” the official added.
He said that the district education department had suggested the higher authorities concerned to utilize funds for construction and raising of boundary walls through parent-teacher councils to ensure transparency.
Tribals rise to save graveyard from land grabbers: Tribesmen of Minakhel clan have formed an action committee to protect Bukhari Shah graveyard located in Lakki city from land grabbers and press the local administration to launch an action against illegal occupants of the graveyard land.
At a meeting held here at the residence of former city nazim Ishfaq Ahmad Khan Minakhel on Sunday, the tribesmen vowed that they would ensure protection of the land reserved for cemetery at all costs. They said that the action committee headed by former tehsil nazim Fareedullah Khan would chalk out a strategy to foil the designs of land grabbers.
Speaking at the meeting, Ishfaq said that land mafia had cut trees and now they were planning to occupy the land of the graveyard. He said that the Minakhel tribesmen and residents of Lakki city would find no place for burying their dead if they did not take notice of the issue seriously.
“Let’s unite to stop Qabza mafia from occupying the land of graveyard,” he maintained. He asked the members of action committee to approach local administration and other government quarters for protecting the land of Bukhari Shah cemetery.
The former tehsil nazim Fareedullah demanded of the government to appoint a caretaker for graveyard and direct district administration to arrest land grabbers under the 3MPO. Other speakers included advocate Marghoob Hasan Khan, Haji Muhammad Yaqoob Khan and Zafar Iqbal.