PESHAWAR: The government of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Tuesday announced scholarships worth Rs100 million ($360,000) for minority students, aiming to bolster their educational opportunities, according to an official statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office.
Pakistan’s religious minorities have long complained of discrimination and economic hardships, which often leave them unable to afford quality education for their children. In KP, a province that has faced a persistent security deficit in recent decades, minorities have been particularly vulnerable, with militants and other violent individuals targeting churches and killing members of the Sikh community, adding to their challenges.
“Special training will be provided to children of minority communities at the Provincial Government Service Training Institute, helping them prepare for competitive exams,” Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said, adding: “Minority students will receive scholarships worth 100 million rupees.”
The statement followed a meeting between Gandapur and Shoaib Suddle, chairman of the One-Man Commission on Minority Rights, during which issues concerning religious minorities were discussed.
In addition to the scholarships, Gandapur announced measures to install solar systems in places of worship for religious minorities and instructed the police to form a special force to ensure the security of their leaders.
He also directed the authorities to enforce the five percent employment quota and two percent education quota reserved for minorities in government institutions.
“The protection of minority rights and their welfare remain an integral part of the provincial government’s agenda,” Gandapur said, emphasizing the pivotal role minorities play in KP’s development and interfaith harmony.
Pakistan’s northwestern province announces $360,000 in scholarships for minority students
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Pakistan’s northwestern province announces $360,000 in scholarships for minority students
- Pakistan’s religious minorities have long complained of discrimination, economic hardships
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa says protection of minority rights remains an integral part of its agenda
Four militants, three paramilitary personnel killed in Pakistan's restive northwest
- The troops were killed when militants targeted an ambulance transporting them after a quadcopter attack on a paramilitary camp in Karak
- Pakistan is witnessing a surge in militancy in its western regions, which last week prompted Islamabad to conduct airstrikes in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: Four militants and three paramilitary personnel were killed in separate incidents in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, authorities said on Monday, amid a surge in militancy in the region bordering Afghanistan.
Security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in KP's Dera Ismail Khan district on reports about militant presence, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing.
An intense exchange of fire followed between the two sides and four Pakistani Taliban militants were killed during the operation.
“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from Indian sponsored killed Khwarij (Pakistani Taliban militants), who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area,” the ISPR said.
“Sanitization operation is being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji found in the area.”
New Delhi did not immediately respond to the Pakistani military's statement.
In the second incident, militants gunned down three personnel of the Federal Constabulary (FC) paramilitary force after a quadcopter attack on an FC camp in KP's Karak district, a police official said on Monday.
The explosive-laden quadcopter struck the FC camp in the Bahadur Khel area early Monday morning and injured seven FC troops, according to Karak police spokesperson Shaukat Khan.
Three FC personnel were killed when militants attacked a Rescue 1122 ambulance which was transporting the injured troops to a hospital following the attack.
“With this incident, the total number of FC personnel martyred has risen to three, while five others, including a member of the rescue team, were injured,” Khan told Arab News.
“A search operation is currently underway to trace those responsible.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Pakistani officials have said in the past that armed groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, have been increasingly using commercial drones modified to drop explosives, alongside other weapons they say were acquired after the US military withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan is witnessing a surge in militancy in its northwestern KP and southwestern Balochistan provinces that border Afghanistan. Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil and India of backing militant groups for cross-border attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny this.
On Sunday, Pakistani security forces killed five militants, including a suicide bomber, during an intelligence-based operation in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province, the military’s media wing said. The operation took place in Balochistan’s Pishin district after security forces received reports about the presence of Pakistani Taliban militants.
The Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have carried out some of the deadliest attacks against civilians and law enforcement agencies in Pakistan since 2007 in their bid to impose their own brand of Islamic law in the country.
Pakistan also carried out intelligence-based strikes on alleged militant camps and hideouts in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost provinces on Saturday, a security official said. The official said more than 80 militants were killed in the attacks, a claim denied by the Afghan Taliban who said Islamabad killed and wounded dozens of civilians in the strikes.
The strikes have increased tensions between the neighbors, with Afghanistan warning it will retaliate at a “suitable time.”
