ONCE more, a girls’ school has been reduced to rubble in the Mirali tehsil of North Waziristan, and with it, the promise of an education for hundreds of children. The bombing of the only girls’ school in Eppi village, just days after another school was destroyed in the same tehsil, is part of a broader pattern seeking to intimidate communities through attacks on education, especially girls’ education. Lives may have been spared due to the late hour of the attacks, but this does not soften the message behind the explosions. The intent is to instil fear, disrupt learning and remind residents of the state’s uneven writ in areas that have endured years of conflict, displacement and neglect. For families who worked up the courage to send their daughters to school after years of hesitation, it marks the undoing of hard-won social progress.

North Waziristan has repeatedly been promised a ‘post-conflict’ future. Military operations cleared terrorists, and development projects were meant to follow. Yet the repeated targeting of schools, including those under construction, shows the widely contrasting realities on the ground. Security measures put in place after attacks, rather than preventive steps, are hardly enough. The state must treat assaults on education as a national security priority, not merely a law-and-order issue. Intelligence-led policing in vulnerable districts needs urgent strengthening, with local informant networks protected. School security cannot rely on ad hoc measures. Community-based protection committees, regular patrols, and secure construction standards must become mandatory in high-risk areas. Temporary learning spaces must be set up immediately so that girls do not lose months, or years, of schooling. Equally important is accountability. The near-total absence of arrests breeds impunity and fear. Transparent investigations and public updates are essential to restore trust. The state’s response must be firm, and fast, so that every child in Pakistan, including every girl in Mirali, has a right to learn without fear.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2025