Pakistan: Schools and universities across capital shut over ‘suicide attack’ threat

Schools and universities in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad were declared shut on Monday (Jan 22) over security threats, according to media reports citing the local police. The closure order was issued amid reports that the law enforcement had received the threat of a suicide attack.

Meanwhile, theIslamabad police, in a post on X, late Monday asked people not to believe the "fake" notification being issued for the closure of businesses and educational institutions and being attributed to their officials.

What we know so far

Inspector Inamullah Khan at Islamabad’s police control told Bloomberg that the police received the threat of a suicide attack. However, he did not identify the terrorist group that issued the threat.

Parents received messagesfromschools on Monday morning,urging them to pick up their children a few hours after they had dropped them off,according to Arab News.

Additionally, an Islamabad police official told AFP on condition of anonymity that three universities affiliated with Pakistan’s military, the National Defence University, Bahria University and Air University in Islamabad were “shut down because of potential threats”.

The institutions, tied to Pakistan’s army, navy and air force, respectively, have been closed indefinitely.

Multiple media reports citing sources said that the attack was planned atBahria University and could involve sending a female suicide bomber.

“Due to security reasons...all faculty and staff, except security and necessary admin staff, will work from home,” said a text sent to Bahria University students and seen by AFP.

The fourth university which received the threat was apublic institutenamedQuaid e Azam University, which will reportedly be closed for a week.

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The closure also comes after Pakistan’s security agencies conducted a search operation in the suburbs of Islamabad late Sunday (Jan 21), reported Geo News.

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According to media reports, the university administration told the students about the indefinite closure late Sunday night.The announcement will also affect the upcoming exams.

Several messages sent to students and parents informingthem about the closure also said that the exams and tests are postponed.

TheIslamabad police issued a statement late Monday asking people not tobelieve the "fake" notification about the closure of schools, colleges, and business centres attributed to Deputy Commissioner Islamabad circulating on social media.

Rise in violence, upcomingelections

Pakistan is set to vote in general elections on February 8 amid overlapping political, economic and security crises. Islamabad has recently witnessed a rise in violence along its border regions since the Taliban surged back to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

ALSO READ |Pakistan: Violence-related deaths in 2023 at a six-year high, shows data

In 2014, the Pakistan Taliban stormed an army public school in the northwestern provincial capital of Peshawar and killed more than 150 people, most of them children.

Pakistan recorded an alarming surge in incidents of violence in 2023 with 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1463 injuries from as many as 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations. This also included nearly 1,000 deaths among civilians and security personnel.

Overall deaths have been at a record six-year high since 2017, according to a report by the Centre for the Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

(With inputs from agencies)