Girl's education under assault in Pakistan

Imparting education to Girls is Un-Islamic.

So say the Taliban and they to ensure their belief becomes a reality, they have burnt 50 out of the 150-odd girls schools in the Swat district of NWFP. The number is growing faster than the spread of the fastest religion in the world. 50 is the figure that they have burnt down but those which have stopped functioning because of fear of the Taliban is over 100. So >75% of the schools where girls studied have closed.

The female literacy in Swat was a measly 30% last year.. this year it is a respectable (for the Taliban) 25%. Clearly it is succeeding!

It is actually Maulana Fazalullah-led Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), which is challenging the writ of the government in NWFP by burning down government schools in Swat, saying imparting education to girls was simply un-Islamic.

Popularly known as Maulana Radio for the illegal FM radio stations he operates to instigate people to prepare for jihad, Fazlullah has become a house hold name in the Swat district of the NWFP.

The Swat valley is not that far from Islamabad either. Just 160 km away, it is a 1772 sq kms of area with 1.5 milliion population. Taliban’s eyes are clearly on Islamabad.