NOWSHERA: The rumour about a militant attack on a girls college caused panic in Pabbi tehsil on Tuesday prompting students to rush out of the premises and personnel of law-enforcement agencies and bomb disposal unit to show up.

The panic-struck students of the two private educational institutions next to the Government Girls Degree College Pabbi also fl ed to home after the rumour spread.

Members of the staff breached the college’s rear boundary walls to help students flee, while guards fi red gunshots in the air.

Parents rushed to the college to collect their children.

As students stormed out of the college and began running towards home on the GT Road, traffi c on the main artery came to a halt.

A student told Dawn that after hearing some gunshots, she and others present in the college thought militants had attacked the premises.

She said she scaled the college’s boundary wall to flee.

Another student claimed some students spread the rumour about militant attack after the college’s proctors stopped two, who didn’t wear college identity cards but wanted to enter the premises, at the main gate.

Some TV channels fl ashed the rumour adding to the panic.

A police contingent led by DSP Adnan Azam Khan rushed to the college and cordoned off the roads leading to it.

The police combed the premises using sniffer digs and bomb disposal squad but didn’t fi nd militants or any explosive material.

The DSP said he had seen the CCTV footage of the people’s movement at and outside the college but found nothing suspicious.

Meanwhile, additional assistant commissioner of Pabbi Mohammad Farooq stopped journalists, especially TV cameramen, from covering the incident causing heated exchanges between them.

The journalists demonstrated against the official and staged a sit-in on the road.

They, however, dispersed after the DSP pacifi ed them.

Published in Dawn February 18th , 2015

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