Violence struck at the heart of education in Balochistan as unknown gunmen fatally shot a woman teacher right outside her school in Sibi on Thursday. The attack, which police link to motorcycle-riding perpetrators, has heightened fears in a province plagued by unrest.
Details emerging from the scene paint a picture of ruthless efficiency: the assailants halted briefly at Allahabad Girls High School’s gate, fired directly at the teacher’s head, and vanished amid panicked onlookers. Rushed to hospital, she was beyond saving, her death marking yet another blow to the region’s fragile stability.
From a respected tribal lineage—the Bangulzai clan—she was the wife of Malik Fahim and kin to Sardar Noor Ahmad. Such connections often place individuals in the crosshairs of Balochistan’s multifaceted conflicts involving separatists, security forces, and tribal rivalries.
This tragedy unfolds amid reports of intensifying enforced disappearances, particularly against women. Fatima, married to activist Noroz Islam, was snatched from her Panjgur home, echoing her husband’s prior ordeals of being ‘disappeared’ thrice.
A leading rights body flagged 12 female victims in 2025, including pregnant and underage girls. Spotlighting Hani Baloch’s case from Kech—eight months pregnant and abducted with family in late December—the Baloch Yakjehti Committee decries a ‘feminization’ of these grave human rights abuses.
What was once a tactic reserved for male insurgents now imperils mothers-to-be, signaling a deepening humanitarian crisis. The teacher’s assassination not only robs a community of an educator but symbolizes the encroaching shadow of terror on everyday life. While probes promise answers, history suggests skepticism; Balochistan’s people yearn for genuine peace and security.