Following the shooting of Shahnaz Nazli, a 41 year old female school teacher from Pakistan, the international back-lash of condemnation and support seems only to have triggered more attacks. Miss Nazli was murdered as she made her way to school last week, and lost her life only 200 meters from her classroom. Several of her students had the misfortune to witness this attack, and were left with irrevocable psychological trauma as a result.
Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education, spoke out publicly against these attacks, which were stimulated by a deeply entrenched social stigma surrounding the education of girls.
Yet the attacks did not end with the death of Shaznaz Nazli. On the morning of the March 30th, as pupils gathered early on Saturday to receive exam results, grenades were hurled into the Baldia Town school causing carnage. The Principal, Abdur Rasheed, died on the spot. The perpetrators are thought to be from TPP, a Taliban terrorist sect, as their campaign of violence against girls’ education moves from the tribal areas into one of the country’s largest cities, Karachi.
The global response to these attacks has been swift and strict. Earlier this week UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has spoken out against the shooting of Shahnaz Nazli and has given his personal support to teachers persecuted for their advocacy of girls’ education.
Authorities in Pakistan have now been placed under severe pressure to safeguard their educators, students and the general public against this violence.
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