PESHAWAR, March 21: The provincial government has appointed additional district and sessions judge Muhammad Jamal Khan, to conduct a judicial inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse of students in the City Government Higher Secondary School No 3 by some staff members , said an official handout.

Mr Jamal Khan has been appointed the inquiry officer under section-3 of the West Pakistan Tribunal Enquiries Ordinance, 1969. The notification states that he has to probe into the facts of the incidents wherein some staff members of the Govt High School No. 3, Peshawar city were said to have been involved in immoral activities, according to reports in local newspapers.

The terms of reference of the inquiry will be: background and causes of incident; fixing of responsibility on each score, if any; and, any other recommendations. Under the notification the inquiry should be conducted within 20 days.

The issue surfaced in September last year and the government transferred all the staffof the said school. The five staff members concerned - including three teachers were also placed under suspension. One of the teacher had allegedly been sexually abusing students for at leasttwo decades.

The issue was debated in the provincial assembly a few days ago and the government claimed that the inquiry conducted by the sub-committee on schools and literacy had not probed the issue properly. The government had promised that a judicial inquiry of the issue would be conducted.

The NWFP Assembly on September 27 had referred the issue to the standing committee on schools and literacy which directed the sub-committee to inquire into the issue. The sub-committee was headed by Habibur Rehman and had threemembers, Ms Farah Aqil Shah, Khalid Waqar Chamkani and Mukhtiar Ali.

Earlier, a committee of parents had conducted an inquiry in September last, and had also spoken to owners of various hotels situated near the school. However, sources have said that instead of submitting the original report to the education department, that committee had submitted a very short report in which the issue was diluted to a great extent.