SWAT: Civil society members and women rights activists here on Monday termed firing on a school van by a policeman an alarming act and demanded of the government to initiate a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Addressing a meeting, they showed serious concerns over the incident of firing on school van by a policeman, who was on duty to protect the children. The meeting was organised by Alliance for Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls in collaboration with the Aurat Foundation.

Sabina Ayaz and Saima Munir of Aurat Foundation, Samreen Hakeem, Humaira Shaukat, Reena Begum, Dr Yasmeen Gul, Mohiuddin Khan, Shakeel Ahmed Khan and Shamsher Ali addressed the meeting.

They said that they were not satisfied with the police investigation into the incident. They said that girls and women in Swat suffered a lot during the period of militancy as terrorists targeted their schools and banned their movement. “The incident shows that still some elements do not want girls to get education,” they said.

They said that the accused in the Sangota Public School van firing incident should be tried in anti-terrorism court. “Solid and effective measures are needed by the law enforcement agencies to prevent such incidents,” they said.

The participants of the meeting said that women rights activists should be included in forums like dispute resolution council. They said that they would soon launch awareness sessions about women rights in Swat.

ARREST: The anti-corruption department on Monday arrested 10 people including former medical superintendent of Kidney Hospital Manglawar Dr Syed Ali Khan over their alleged corruption.

According to a statement of the department, a complaint was registered with director of anti-corruption that in 2015 vacancies of Class-IV employees were announced, for which a committee under the MS was formed, but all the candidates were recruited through political influence, favouritism and misuse of powers.

It said that an inquiry was conducted into the matter that found that the illegal recruitments caused a loss of Rs12,907,034 to the government exchequer. It stated that about 10 persons including the Class-IV employees were arrested.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2023