Pakistan: Three Universities Shut Over Security Threats in Capital Islamabad

Three universities affiliated with Pakistan’s military were shut down over security threats in the capital Islamabad on Monday, local media reported on Monday. Pakistan is due to vote in general elections next month amid political, economic and security crises, with a rise in militant attacks targeting police and soldiers.

The National Defence University, Bahria University and Air University in Islamabad were “shut down because of potential threats,” an Islamabad police official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The institutions are tied to Pakistan’s army, navy and air force, respectively. “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 the French agency.

This security threat comes as the country goes to the polls on February 8 and thousands of auxiliary security forces are set to saturate the nation’s capital and northwestern region abutting Afghanistan. The politically volatile nation has seen an uptick in attacks along its border regions since the Taliban surged back to power there in 2021, and has consistently claimed Kabul is giving safe haven to militants.

Last year, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1463 injuries from as many as 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.

The Islamic country witnessed overall fatalities including those of outlaws mark a record 6-year high, exceeding the 2018 level and highest since 2017. In 2014, the Pakistan Taliban stormed an army public school in the northwestern provincial capital of Peshawar and killed more than 150 people, the majority of them children, triggering a massive army campaign to rout the militants.

(With agency inputs)