Dress code threats close Peshawar schools

February 27, 2007

Schools in the city Peshawar, Pakistan were closed for two days at the end of last week after anonymous threats were received warning female students to wear veils in class.

The threats, believed originating from members of the Taliban movement, along with the detention of two would-be suicide bombers before they exploded themselves, raised tensions and closed the schools out of safety concerns for the students.

One of the two suicide bombers was a woman who attempted enter the Koochi Bazaar, a market in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province. Purses carried by women are routinely searched before entering the market. Explosives were discovered in the purse carried by a woman who refused the search and tried to walk away.