Threatening letters force close a Church–run school

A threatening letter containing warning of suicide attack, published in a local newspaper, worried the Apostolic Carmelite Sisters who closed the Public High School temporarily at district Swat in North West Frontier Province.

According to news sources, the letter titled "Red notice for Public School Sangota," declared the school "a factory" and accused the nuns of trying to convert young Muslim girls to Christianity. The letter was issued by "Jan Nisaran e Islam," an Islamic militant group.

The letter further claimed, “The sisters in charge took the hostel girls to a Church situated in the convent premises at night for catechism classes. They gave them wine mixed with normal cold drinks to make them intoxicate and took their nude photographs for secret purposes. The students were taught through internet from the missionary stations at Europe and other western countries. They were given full freedom to use the internet as they want,” quoted persecution news alert agency.

The letter urged Muslim parents to dislodge their children from the Christian school and have them enrolled in Islamic Madarasas.

A Carmelite nun in the school said, 99% of the students in the school were Muslims and only two to four female teachers were Christians in the school of around 900 girl students.

"We are targeted because of our faith and foreign nationality," said the Convent Superior.

"There were about 80 girl students in the hostel. The parents of the students were upset and condemned the letter. The school children felt to write letters to authorities demanding protection, peace and end to religious extremism," she reported.

The school was built in 1962 and has been the only missionary school situated in Swat district, Malakand division.

Recently, a series of letters were published against Christians in a province in North Pakistan, urging Christians to either convert to Islam or leave the nation. They even threatened of sending suicide bombers, if failed to leave or convert.

While religious extremism is at the peak in Pakistan, even police and authorities fail to curb the extremists, who even dare to kill.