HARIPUR, Feb 25: The administration of Government Degree College for Women, Haripur, on Monday closed the college for an indefinite period following a threat of suicide attack.

Mrs Chand Attaullah, principal of the college told the police that on Monday morning when she came to college she was given a letter by one of the college’s watchmen Haider Zaman who said that a black bearded person had given him the letter to deliver it to the principal.

She said the letter also mentioned Ayub Bridge near Havelian as the second target of said suicide bombers. According to Mrs Attaullah the informer also mentioned his cell phone number in the letter. She said that when she contacted the said person he confirmed about dropping a letter and asked her to inform the other educational institutions of the district to close down as his information was correct.

She also told the police that an official of an intelligence agency had asked her to close the college immediately as more than two suicide attackers had entered the district and were likely to target the college.

Mrs Attaullah said that she immediately informed the DPO Haripur and DCO about the letter and got the college building vacated from the students. The DPO Hairpur Nasir Satti, when approached by Dawn for comments, did confirm the information of letter but termed it a hoax created by some miscreants. He, however, said that the police personnel had been deployed around the college building and investigation into the letter and the person was underway.

Meanwhile, the information regarding suicide attackers entering the district created panic among the parents of students of different colleges and schools who came to know about the news through TV channels. Even some parents and relatives had dashed to the colleges and schools to take their children and dear ones home.

It may be recalled that a few days back some CD shop owners of Abbottabad had also received photo copies of a letter that was carrying a news item of an Islamabad based Urdu daily pasted on it narrating the detail of 54 CD shops which were blown up in Dir, Batkhela and other areas during the recent past.

The said letter was carrying a two-line threat that ‘if you failed to close down “business of obscenity” you will face the same fate as the news item indicated’.