14 passengers shot dead after being offloaded from bus in Pakistan
Karachi: Unidentified gunmen shot dead at least 14 passengers after forcing them to disembark from a bus on a highway in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, a media report said Thursday.
According to Levies sources, around 15 to 20 unidentified gunmen in camouflage uniform reportedly stopped five or six buses travelling between Karachi and Gwadar.
They stopped a bus on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan's Ormara area, checked the identity cards of passengers and offloaded about 16 of them.
At least 14 were shot dead, while two passengers managed to escape the massacre and made it to the nearest Levies check post. They were shifted to a hospital for treatment, the Dawn newspaper reported.
Levies and other law enforcement personnel reached the spot and launched an investigation into the incident. The bodies of the victims were recovered from Noor Baksh Hotel, the report said.
The motive behind the killings and the identity of the victims are yet to be ascertained.
Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan's largest and poorest province, rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies.
An ISIS suicide attack targeting Hazara Shias in the provincial capital of Quetta last week killed 21 people and injured 60 others.
Armed gunmen kidnapped about two dozen passengers from two Karachi-bound coaches from Balochistan's Mastung area in 2015, killing at least 19 of them in the mountainous area of Khad Kocha.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
