5 more schools dynamited, govt claims turn out nine days’ wonder

Ignorant Taliban and ignorant Mullahs Violently Campaigns Against Girls' Education in Northwest Pakistan
MINGORA: Local Taliban destroyed five more schools whereas more than three lakh children below the age of five will miss immunisation this year in Swat because of the ongoing fighting.
'Militants blew up one girls' school and four boys schools including Government High School Bunr, Primary School Bunr, High School Angro Dheri, Primary School Angro Dheri and Girls High School Tahir Abad. Schools are closed for a winter break and no one was hurt in the attacks.
Up till now militants had destroyed 170 schools in the valley where about 55,000 girls and boys were enrolled in government-run institutions, sources said.
Information Minister Sherry Rehman told reporters on Sunday the government aimed to ensure that schools in Swat would reopen on March 1, when they are due to go back after the winter break. But that would seem like wishful thinking because teachers were also refusing to work.
"We are stiff scared. We doubt the government's ability to protect us," a teacher said.
Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain vowed action against the militants.
"They're out of control," Iftikhar told reporters.
"In the past, when we took action against them, we were criticised ... Now people realise that they're cruel and they want us to go after them and we'll do it."
The president of a Swat teachers' association said his members would only go back to work if the government brought complete peace and shut down the militants' radio, or if the militants issued an order over their radio for a return to work.
'If they're destroying schools during a curfew, they can do anything. Even if the authorities announce schools are open, nobody will go and parents won't send their kids.
About 365,000 children aged under five in Swat valley would miss immunisation against polio this year and there is likelihood of more polio cases in the area.
Informed sources in the health department said that the district administration of Swat was not willing to launch a vaccination campaign because of security concerns.
Meanwhile, management of Judicial Complex Mingora again received a call from an unknown person threatening that the complex would be targeted within an hour. The call proved to be a scare only, since the bomb disposal squad scanned the building and found no explosives; however, nearby offices and banks were closed and people faced a lot of difficulties.
Separately, unidentified miscreants torched a house of Hamid Gul in Madyn area. No casualties were reported in the incident.
Curfew remained clamped on Khwazakhela road for fifth consecutive day.
Electricity remained cut off to different parts of Mingora due to fire broke out in Pesco's main grid station in Swat.
Fire brigade men rushed to the site and extinguished the fire.