Teachers as Shooters!

After having mollycoddled and encouraged the Taliban to practise terrorism in India for decades, the Pakistan government has now hit upon the most fantastic idea to deal with them after the Taliban massacred 150 people at a Peshawar school last December. Police firearms instructors of Pakistan are now training women teachers to use pistols and even assault rifles. They are doing this so that teachers can protect themselves and their students if they are attacked by terrorists or plain killers. According to the instructors, some of these women teachers have turned out to be very good shooters. Eight lecturers from the Frontier College for Women attended a two–day firearms course at the provincial police firing range in Peshawar. Quite obviously, not all women teachers entrusted with this onerous responsibility that should be discharged by the government can be quite happy about their additiol role as security personnel. However, heed Hussain, one of the teachers trained in the use of arms said, “The December 16 tragedy showed us that we need to learn to be able to take care of ourselves and our students. We will not replace our pens with guns. But the situation could arise where we are required to serve our country.” It is true that the people of north–western Pakistan have borne the brunt of the largest number of attacks by the Taliban. That is why ownership of firearms is very common all over north–western Pakistan. Even so, the idea of armed women teachers who are expected to shoot and kill in addition to their quotidian tasks of teaching, has not gone down well with many parents who insist that it is the responsibility of the state and not of teachers to protect schools and universities.