MINGORA: Five more schools were blown up by suspected Taliban militants as violence continued unabated in the restive Swat valley on Monday.

The five government-run schools destroyed late Sunday night include: Government High School for Boys Tawheedabad, Government High School for Girls Banr, Government Primary School for boys Banr, Government High School Engaro Dheri, and Government Primary School for Boys in Mingora city.

A guesthouse belonging to Hameedullah of Takhtbhai was also set on fire in Madyan by unknown miscreants.

Two paramilitary soldiers sustained wounds in roadside explosions in the Shen area of Khwazakhela. The personnel were on routine petrol when their vehicle hit a mine planted by suspected militants on Kalam road.

DCO Swat Shaukat Khan Yousafzai confirmed the destruction of two girls and three boys’ schools, saying so far 182 schools were destroyed, most of them for girls. He said due to the Taliban’s actions, education for over 100,000 students from the primary to college level was being affected in Swat.

He said the attacks on security forces are understandable to some extent, but the destruction of schools defies logic.

Locals said the incident may be a reaction to the recent remarks by ministers vowing to reopen schools in the violence-plagued valley.

They said both the information ministers are ‘without information’, adding that they are unaware of the real situation in the region.

The principal of a private school said that militants are now in complete control of the whole Swat district. The devastation of five schools in a single day and that too in Mingora is a glaring example of the absence of the government’s writ, he added.

Schools and colleges are currently closed for winter vacations, so there are no reports of injuries or deaths in the latest blasts. However, when schools reopen in March, who will prevent casualties of innocent students, a father of two children mulled.

He said militants considered schools as symbols of government authority, and are bent on destroying them. Instead, they want to setup Taliban style educational institutions.

Most of the resourceful families have fled to the cities of Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda and even Islamabad, settling with relatives or renting to protect their families. Those who lack the means to move have no other option but to surrender to Taliban policies. 

A Majority of government employees including police and teachers have either resigned or are planning to quit, locals said, adding most of them were publishing advertisements in local newspapers, disowning their government jobs.