Schools shut down in face of Taliban threats in Pakistani valley

Residents stand at the damaged building of Government High School Qambar, a girls' school, in Swat valley. Taliban militants have banned female education in northwest Pakistan valley of Swat, depriving more than 40,000 girls of schooling while holding security forces at bay, officials said on Saturday (REUTERS)

Published Sunday, January 18, 2009

By AP

Religious extremists in Pakistan are moving to restrict girls’ education as they seek to impose a draconian law on a beleaguered population.

In a northern valley where Taliban guerrillas have been waging a bloody war against security forces for more than a year, hard-liners have blown up or burned down some 170 schools, most of them for girls. Then in December, a warning by militants in a pirate radio broadcast: All schools for girls should close by January 15.

This week, an association representing 400 private schools for boys and girls in the Swat valley said they would all remain closed after the winter break because of the threat.

Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan in the 1990s banned education for girls and forced most working women to return to their homes.

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