Taliban threats close Pakistan schools

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — In a dark echo of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, violent religious extremists in Pakistan are moving to restrict girls' education as they seek to impose a draconian version of Islamic law on a beleaguered population.

In a northern valley where Taliban guerrillas have been waging a bloody war against security forces for more than a year, hard-liners have blown up or burned down some 170 schools, most of them for girls. Then in December, a warning by militants in a pirate radio broadcast: All schools for girls should close by Jan. 15.

This week, an association representing 400 private schools for boys and girls in the Swat valley said they would all remain closed after the winter break because of the threat.

"Since the Taliban's warning, attendance in our schools has reduced by almost half" to some 20,000 students, association president Ziauddin Yousufzai told The Associated Press on Friday.

"From today, we have closed our schools as we cannot run our education system in this insecure environment," he said.

Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan in the 1990s banned education for girls and forced most working women to return to their homes.

Since their 2001 ouster, the hardline Islamist movement's followers have been blamed for scores of arson attacks on schools in Afghanistan, many of them built with Western aid. An acid attack by Taliban insurgents last year maimed several girls.

The rise of Taliban groups in neighboring Pakistan has brought similar violence, especially in Swat, a relatively progressive area that until recently drew tourists from across Pakistan with its fine Alpine scenery.

The valley lies close to, but outside, Pakistan's tribally governed belt along the Afghan border where the West worries that al-Qaida leaders have found refuge.

Residents complain that the local administration, including the police force, has collapsed over recent months as officials and lawmakers flee in fear. Relief workers say thousands of residents also have moved out of militant-held areas.

Those who remain find themselves with little choice but to comply with the demands of the militants, who have exploited long-nurtured local grievances with Pakistan's snail-paced justice system.

Muslim Khan, the militants' spokesman, said they would not allow any girls' schools to operate until the army withdraws from the valley and Islamic law is imposed.