Pakistan: Two Children Killed in School Van Shooting

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Facts

• Two girls died, and six others were injured Thursday after gunmen opened fire at a school van in Attock city in Pakistan's Punjab province.^[1]
• The police said the gunmen had personal enmity with the van driver's family, and the driver was the primary target of the attack. A search has been launched to capture the attackers.^[2][3]
• The injured children, aged between five and 10, were hospitalized, but two of them reportedly couldn't be saved. The condition of two others remains critical.^[4]
• Pakistan has witnessed a surge in targeted attacks in recent years, especially in the northwestern region, which isn't far from Attock.^[5]
• In 2014, the Taliban attacked a military school in northwestern Pakistan, killing nearly 150 children. In 2012, the militants attacked a school van in Swat and injured future Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai.^[6]

Sources: ^[1]Pakistan – Gulf News, ^[2]Az, ^[3]Voice of America, ^[4]The Indian Express, ^[5]Associated Press and ^[6]Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Cambridge Core. Violence, particularly the terrorism-fueled, has profoundly impacted Pakistan's children over the decades, robbing them of a normal childhood. Besides causing countless deaths, it has displaced them and forced them into unstable, dangerous living conditions. This only compounds other social stressors on Pakistan's children like health risks, malnutrition, and psychological trauma — this demands a holistic response.
• Narrative B, as provided by Al Jazeera. Thursday's tragic killing of two innocent children comes amid a surge in violent attacks in Pakistan, worsened by intensified political friction. Deteriorating dynamics between the military and the country's various militant groups are causing widespread societal instability. The security dynamics must first be addressed in order to protect the socially vulnerable — including women and children.

Predictions