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Girls returning to school in Swat Valley
by Scott Gilbreath ~ March 4th, 2009
Now that Pakistan has agreed to implement sharia law in Swat Valley in hopes of ending hostilities in the region, some parents are sending their girls back to school.
Islamic militants pronounced a ban education for girls in December. Some 200 girls’ schools in Swat have been burned down and an unknown number of teachers have fled.
“My daughter, aged 10, was thrilled to wear her uniform again and go to school. We hope it can continue,” Sayeda Bibi (not her real name) told IRIN from her village near Swat’s principal city of Mingora.
The unwillingness to allow her real name to be disclosed, however, betrays an underlying fear. “We are pleased but we are afraid things could become bad again,” she said.
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Tens of thousands of people, including many school teachers, have fled Swat. “All the best teachers from my children’s schools have left. I do not think they will go back,” said Shahnaz Khan, 35, a mother of three whose family left Mingora several months ago. “According to my relatives there, many children have gone back to schools but there are now too few teachers,” she said.Other families are still too scared to send their children back to school.
Militant leader Maulana Sufi Muhammad has set a deadline of 15 March for Islamic courts to be established in the region. He warns that a lasting peace is not possible until Sharia law is enforced.
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