SYED INTIKHAB ALI and SADIA SAEED

KARACHI- A group of concerned citizens of Pakistan representing coalitions and organizations met with the United Nation (UN) resident representative Mr. Fikret Akcura, UN Resident Coordinator Pakistan, to present a set of recommendations and 18000 signatures from citizens regarding the destruction of schools and over all education system in Swat and Fata. The petition and the signatures are to be formally handed over to the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon during his visit to Pakistan, The Nation learnt from sources.
The spokeswoman of the organization told The Nation, that a procedure had been adopted to send the petition to UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon, through the Resident Coordinator of UN in Pakistan to inform him about the ongoing situation in the affected areas, especially about the destruction of schools. The representatives of four organizations who met the resident coordinator of UN includes Idara e Taleem O Aagahi, The Pukhtun Peace Forum, NWFP Citizens' for Peace, and Aryana Institute for Regional Research & Advocacy.
"The organization had appealed to the UN that the situation in Pakistan is not only concerned with its boundaries, but it also has serious international consequences. It is a very serious issue and demands extremely serious attention. The civil society and the international bodies need to come together for peace in the country,"
said the spokeswoman.
"The citizens' signature campaign demanded to stop the genocide in the NWFP (particularly in Swat) and FATA immediately. They demanded to initiate a formal independent inquiry commission into the protracted genocide in Swat, Talibanisation through collusion and with no writ of the Pakistani State and the military. The restoration of girls' and women's education should start immediately with complete protection.
The organization demanded to provide an institutional mechanism for temporary admission for displaced children into other schools on an emergency, temporary basis, to give their examinations. The organization also requested the UN to address urgently the needs of the displaced people of NWFP districts and FATA," she added.
"The letter campaign has asked the leading organization for global peace and humanitarian assistance, UN, to act urgently and seriously and start a global campaign to save our province and Pakistan from the growing menace of extremism," she further elaborated.
"The letter also contained statistics about the number of girls affected due to the closure of schools in the areas. 84248 are the total number of girls in public schools of the areas. Total number of girls in private schools that has been affected is 35000. Over all, the total number of girls affected are 119,248. This situation has also affected the teachers in those areas. The total number of lady teachers rendered jobless is 3425," she explained.

The spokeswoman gave the details about the situation of schools in the district Swat. According to the information, 96 government girls'
schools have been completely damaged. 26 schools have been partially affected due to the situation. 25 government schools for boys have been damaged, while 39 schools have been partially damaged. The number of female students affected by complete damage to the schools stood at 17380 and 7156 in the partially damaged schools. On the other hand,
6298 male students have been affected by the complete damage of schools and 14670 by partial damage to the school buildings.