Pakistan Try To Reopen Destroyed Girls School

KARACHI: Government will push to quickly reopen girls’ schools destroyed by militants in the country’s lawless violence-hit district of Swat, the information minister said Sunday.

Speaking to reporters in Karachi, Sherry Rehman said all efforts would be made to ensure that classes in the Swat valley resume in March following the winter break.

“We will try our best to reopen girls’ schools and we will try to give the girls confidence. We have to show them a ray of hope,” Rehman said.

In recent months, militants have blown up or burned down some 170 schools in northwestern tribal region of the country, most of them for girls, and demanded in December that all schools for girls in Swat valley be closed by Jan. 15. An association representing 400 private schools has said they would remain closed after the winter break because of the threat.

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