MQM MPAs raise questions over security plan for schools

Karachi
During the assembly proceedings on Tuesday, the provincial lawmakers discussed the issue of a grenade attack on private schools in Karachi earlier in the day.
The lawmakers of the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement expressed serious concerns over the security steps taken for schools and other educational institutes in the city amid the looming threat of terrorism.
The issue was raised towards the end of the day’s proceedings when speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani allowed speak MQM MPA Adnan Ahmed to speak on a point of order.
Ahmed said that he had come to the House after visiting the schools in Block 7 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal. He added that the attack had sent a wave of shock and panic among parents, students and teachers at the private schools in the area.
He said the attackers had also left threat letters at the schools. “The incident raises serious questions over the arrangements made for the security of educational institutes in the city following the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16,” he added.
Ahmed said if proper security steps were not taken, he would be left with no option but to advise parents in his constituency to reach the Chief Minister’s House to personally speak with the provincial chief executive about their concerns.
MQM deputy parliamentary leader Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said the provincial government should share with Karachi’s MPAs the details of its security plan for government and private schools in the city devised after the Peshawar attack.