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School topper goes missing after joining Swat Taliban
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=192153
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Daud Khattak
MINGORA: Students and teachers at the Government Higher Secondary School Barikot were missing their two brilliant colleagues as the school reopened on August 1 following the clearing of the area from militants and the return of the displaced people.
The first thing both teachers and students did was to offer fateha (prayer) for their colleague and teacher Fazal Jabbar, who lost his life along with his other relative when a mortar shell landed on his house in Naway Killay in Barikot area on May 11.
Unlike rest of the school buildings, ours is safe but the killing of our kind and devoted colleague pierced our hearts, said Ibrahim, principal of the school while recalling Fazal Jabbar, who was serving as Certified Teacher (CT).
The second shocking revelation for the teachers and students was that Yousaf Khan, a student of the school, who got top position in the matriculation examination 2007, was missing
The board of honour displayed on a wall just behind the main gate of the school still bears the name of Yousaf Khan, but he is missing now and is feared dead as he had joined the ranks of Taliban about a year ago.
He was such a brilliant student ... I cant believe he can join the militants because he has no such inclination during his school days, said the school principal.
Taliban had become role model for students and young men in almost all areas of Swat during their heydays. Youth, many of them students like Yousaf Khan, feeling a charm in holding guns and stopping and searching people on the roads, recalled Muhammad Saleh, a physical education teacher.
Residents say many among the militants in the area were teenagers. They developed liking for the Taliban because of their apparent pomp and show and later on some of them joined their ranks. Many of those young men, some of them students, are now missing, said another teacher.
Earlier, the security forces in Swat had claimed arresting several teenaged boys, who were picked by the militants to be trained and used as suicide bombers. The militants prefer teenagers as they can be easily influenced and molded as suicide bombers and foot soldiers.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=192153
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Daud Khattak
MINGORA: Students and teachers at the Government Higher Secondary School Barikot were missing their two brilliant colleagues as the school reopened on August 1 following the clearing of the area from militants and the return of the displaced people.
The first thing both teachers and students did was to offer fateha (prayer) for their colleague and teacher Fazal Jabbar, who lost his life along with his other relative when a mortar shell landed on his house in Naway Killay in Barikot area on May 11.
Unlike rest of the school buildings, ours is safe but the killing of our kind and devoted colleague pierced our hearts, said Ibrahim, principal of the school while recalling Fazal Jabbar, who was serving as Certified Teacher (CT).
The second shocking revelation for the teachers and students was that Yousaf Khan, a student of the school, who got top position in the matriculation examination 2007, was missing
The board of honour displayed on a wall just behind the main gate of the school still bears the name of Yousaf Khan, but he is missing now and is feared dead as he had joined the ranks of Taliban about a year ago.
He was such a brilliant student ... I cant believe he can join the militants because he has no such inclination during his school days, said the school principal.
Taliban had become role model for students and young men in almost all areas of Swat during their heydays. Youth, many of them students like Yousaf Khan, feeling a charm in holding guns and stopping and searching people on the roads, recalled Muhammad Saleh, a physical education teacher.
Residents say many among the militants in the area were teenagers. They developed liking for the Taliban because of their apparent pomp and show and later on some of them joined their ranks. Many of those young men, some of them students, are now missing, said another teacher.
Earlier, the security forces in Swat had claimed arresting several teenaged boys, who were picked by the militants to be trained and used as suicide bombers. The militants prefer teenagers as they can be easily influenced and molded as suicide bombers and foot soldiers.
