QUETTA: Many educational institutions in Quetta, including Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University and the Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Science (BUITEMS), remained closed on Tuesday after a high security alert was issued by the provincial home department.

Official sources said that the home department issued the high alert on Monday after receiving intelligence information that some suicide attackers, including a young woman, had entered Balochistan from Afghanistan and were planning attacks on educational institutions, especially institutions for women.

The home department sent a letter to the inspector general of Balochistan police about the security threat. The inspector general issued directives for taking immediate security measures for all educational institutions in the province.

The district education officer in Quetta sent letters to all government schools in the province, informing them about the threat and asking them to take some security measures.

In view of the high security alert, the women’s university has been closed for three days. The BUITEMS has also suspended classes and stopped plying its buses on road till further orders.

According to sources, academic staff and other officials would be available on the campus of the BUITEMS.

However, the University of Balochistan remained opened on Tuesday amid tight security. A heavy contingent of security personnel was deployed in and around the university.

The Government Girls College Quetta Cant and the Government Science College also remained opened on Tuesday. However, security had been beefed up around both the colleges.

Educational institutions running under the Catholic Board have also been closed for one week.

Students of Convent and Grammar schools have been asked to come to schools on Monday.

However, many other educational institutions, including private schools, in the city remained open on Tuesday.

The local administration deployed heavy contingents of security personnel outside all educational institutions in the city.

Published in Dawn November 9th, 2016