Terrorists, who made inroads into Pakistan's capital with stunning dual suicide bomb attacks in the Islamic university, forced the government to close down all its educational institutions indefinitely for fear of insecurity.
Interior Ministry spokesman Rashid Mazari said all government and private schools, colleges and universities throughout Pakistan have been closed until the end of the week so they can improve security measures.
Indications are that educational institutions will remain closed for an indefinite period, as decision to reopen will be taken only after ensuring a satisfactory security situation all over the country.
Two successive suicide bomb attacks in the International Islamic University campus in Islamabad Tuesday killed seven and injured many others, most of them students.
The suicide bombers walked into a cafeteria for women and an academic block for men at the university and blew themselves up.
Those killed in the first-ever attack on students in the country included three women and there were 25 female students among the injured.
Established on the outskirts of the city in the 1980s, the International Islamic University has more than 12,000 students - nearly half of them women - including foreigners.
Some Chinese students are quitting their studies and heading back to China as a result of the bombing. Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Pakistan was now in a state of war.
Pakistan is under a wave of militant attacks since the past two weeks that killed more than 180 people, prompting an all-out military onslaught against militants along the Afghan border.
After the Islamic university suspended classes Tuesday, the scare began spreading prompting regional governments order the closure of all educational institutions throughout the country.
The institutions are likely to reopen next week, but authorities in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, which witnessed a series of coordinated attacks targeting police offices last week, said the institutions "will remain closed until further orders."
The provincial government has also directed the security agencies and concerned departments to take steps on a war-footing to ensure security arrangements in educational institutions in the region.
Schools and colleges run by the armed forces and nationwide chains popular among the elite are not working since weekend, when ground troops launched a much-awaited offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan.
Pakistani forces were engaged in fierce fighting at Kotkai, the birth place of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and also the hometown of Taliban commander Qari Hussain, the 'trainer of suicide bombers.'
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.