GCPEA News

Student, two security guards injured in Lahore school firing incident

The Express Tribune , April 17, 2015

LAHORE: A security guard was injured in a firing incident outside St. Francis High School in Lahore’s Bahar Colony when he tried to stop dacoits from stealing a motorbike. 

Amir tried to stop the dacoits near the school, who attempted to snatch a motorbike from 19-year-old Lucky.

Eyewitnesses revealed that classes for students were taking place when students and teachers heard the firing.

Pitras Masih, one of the eyewitnesses, told The Express Tribune that two unidentified dacoits snatched a motorbike from Lucky and as soon as they left, the school’s security guard, Amir attempted to stop them and upon resistance he was shot in the head.

The injured guard was shifted to a nearby hospital where he received treatment.

Parents, upon hearing the firing, rushed to the school to collect their children.

“I rushed to the school as soon as I heard the bullets I left my house praying that it is not the incident similar to the Peshawar carnage,” said Maryam Ali a mother of a pupil.

Muhammad Bashir, a father of class 5 student said that despite tall claims, police had failed miserably to protect the schools. “There is not even a single police official present outside this school,” he said adding that the hardened criminals, robbers and dacoits roam freely in the city in the broad daylight and the police failed to nab them.

Another parent requested higher police officials to improve the security of the school as the children needed protection.

“As soon as I heard the bullets I got very scared and started crying as the first thing that came to my mind was that the terrorist had attacked our school and I will also be killed like the children of APS School in Peshawar,” said student Sharon David.

Daisy Elizabeth, another mother of a student said that the government only provides security to the schools where the children of the powerful ruling elite of the country studied.

“They don’t care about the lives of our children who belonged to lower middle class families. Are only the lives of VIP children important?” she questioned.

A senior Police official requesting anonymity told The Express Tribunethat with current strength they could not deploy police officials for every school in the city. He further told that the schools in Lahore were divided into three different categories and they were provided with security on the basis of the threat level.

A DGPR official also shared with The Express Tribune that Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and had asked the Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukehra to submit a report of the incident within 48 hours.