Torching of schools

What happened in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in the early hours of Friday morning must give pause to all authorities concerned. A dozen schools, 10 of them for girls, and an Army public school located in different areas were torched by unknown miscreants. The usual suspect, the Taliban, did not take credit for the attack. Considering that so many schools were destroyed or damaged at the same time in a widespread area shows it was the handiwork of a large group. A press report points out that such attacks have taken place in the past as well, in one case a girls' school in a Chilas village was torched five times in the years 2015, 2011, and 2004.
Diamer SSP offered a clue as to the identity of the elements involved in this nefarious activity when he said "it seems the locals, opposed to girls' education are involved in the incident." And that preliminary investigation indicates the attackers were "individuals not associated with any [militant] organisation." It is worth noting that soon after the incident, a large number of local people staged protest demonstrations, blocking the Karakoram Highway. They shouted slogans against extremism demanding exemplary punishment for the culprits. Clearly, contrary to the administration's claims, most of the local people want to send their children to school. The problems are the extremists. Diamer being a socio-economic backwater in GB these people have easier time to assert their presence, though the prevailing atmosphere in other parts of the country also gives cause for concern. Unfortunately, such elements have been allowed to freely promote their retrogressive, bigoted ideas. So far, those in position of power have failed to recognize that there is no red line between extremism and militancy. As a matter of fact, unchecked extremism creates an environment in which militancy flourishes.
As expected, the attack on schools has been widely condemned. PPP co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari issued a statement calling it an unpardonable act and vowing to resist any attempt to stop girls from acquiring education. Prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan took to the Twitter expressing shock over the incident. "This is unacceptable", he said, "and we will ensure security for schools as we are committed to focusing on education, especially girls' education which is integral to Naya Pakistan." These are all assuring words. Following the incident, civil and military officials went into a huddle at the Gilgit headquarters of the Force Command Northern Areas to review the situation, also deciding to tighten security at educational institutions. But better security alone will not help. More important is the need to address the source of trouble, which is the extremist mindset, rather than only its manifestations. Unless and until all stakeholders, civil and military, recognize the reality for what it is and make determined efforts to root out extremism root and branch, little will change for the better.