Bomb Hoax Leads To The Evacuation of Four Lahore Schools
Thursday, May 5th, 2016 9:33:00 by modousarr
Following bomb threats that were made, authorities evacuated four public schools on Wednesday morning as fear and panic gripped students, teachers, and administration. The bomb, which turned out to be a hoax, came as a result of several universities in Islamabad partially shutting down due to security concerns.
At 11:30am on Wednesday, an unidentified caller told the Lahore police that bombs were at Government Girls High School in G-Block Gulshan-e-Ravi, Girls High School in E-Block Gulshan-e-Ravi, CDGL Boys High School Sanda, and CDGL Girls High School Sanda.
Immediately the call was made, police units rushed to the respective schools and evacuated them.
DSP Ghulam Abbas reported that “All the children and staff were evacuated from the four schools” adding,“The Bomb Disposal Squad also reached there and search operations were conducted.”
However, no bombs or suspicious objects were found at any of the four schools.
BDS official Allahyar claimed that his teams had checked the schools, “We scanned all the buildings and premises. No explosive device was found.”
DSP Abbas reiterated Allahyar’s statement, saying “We are now trying to trace the caller who spread panic among the people.”
The headmistress of Government Girls High School in E-Block Gulshan-e-Ravi criticized the authorities for keeping them in the dark regarding the bomb threat.
“We were not informed about the bomb threat. We called the police after parents started gathering at the school gates,” Najamun Nisa said. “This created a lot of trouble for us as most of the young children had started crying.”
The schools are expected to reopen on Thursday (today) according to their regular schedule.
Islamabad’s Increased Security
Due to a security alert issued in the capital late Tuesday night, several universities in Islamabad stayed partially closed on Wednesday.
Heavy groups of police were deployed at the Allama Iqbal Open University (IOU), Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), International Islamic University (IIUI) as well as National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and National University of Modern Languages (NUML).
According to a police official, there was a rather high-security alert in the capital and orders were issued to increase security around universities, adding that several areas around the universities were being secluded.
A QAU official claimed that the university’s administration had been informed of the threat Tuesday night, leading to the lack of operation of the bus service Wednesday morning.
As a result of the suspension of the bus service, most of the universities stayed shut. The official confirmed that law enforcement agencies inspected and searched several parts of the campus.
Temporary pickets on roads leading to the Red Zone were set up by police in the early hours of Wednesday, increasing motorists’ checks. Security was also heightened in several major locations around the capital including hotels frequented by foreigners.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=52887
Posted by 
