Pakistan Peshawar massacre: Teachers 'at war' with Taliban allowed to carry guns at school

Teachers in north-west Pakistan have been given permission to carry weapons following the massacre at a school in Peshawar in December.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in which 150 people, including 134 children, were killed.

The massacre, allegedly carried out to discourage military activity in the area, rocked the country, prompting leaders to resume capital punishment after a six-year moratorium.

Some teachers have rejected the idea of carrying weapons, but others are ready to kill terrorists should they attack schools, AP reported.

"Whoever kills innocents, God willing I will shoot them," 37-year-old Tabinda, from the Frontier College for Women, said.

Mushtuq Ghani, the higher education minister in the Khyber Paktunkhwa provincial government in Peshawar, said that arming teachers is a necessity as terrorists need to be aware that school staff can react in case of an attack.

"We're at war," Ghani told reporters.

Teachers would need to provide their own legally licensed firearms, which many already possess to defend their homes.

In other provinces, teachers have been denied permission to carry weapons on the grounds that this would increase fear among students, already shocked after the mass killing at Peshawar.

"Pens belong in our hands, not guns," said Muzammal Khan, provincial president of the All Teachers Association in Peshawar. He added that authorities and not teachers are responsible for defending schools from terrorism.