A debate over arming teachers has surged in Pakistan once more, days after assistant chemistry professor Syed Hamid Husain opened fire on the Taliban gunmen who stormed the university campus where he worked.
Students told how the 33-year-old father-of-two died shielding them with a handgun during the attack that claimed 21 lives at Bacha Khan University (BKU) in Charsadda.
Teachers there had been given permission to carry firearms after the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan massacred at least 144 people, the majority of them children, at Peshawar's Army Public School (APS) in December 2014.
At the Government Primary School Akhunabad in the city, Gul slid his own gun ─ a Chinese knockoff of a Soviet WWII-era pistol ─ quickly into the desk drawer, saying weapons in school give him confidence.
"You have guns with you. You can fight it out," he said.
The headmaster already has the scenario played out in his mind.
"If one terrorist were to come and I'm sitting here... I will automatically take out my pistol," he said gesturing. "So I take cover from here, and fire with a sharp mind."
“I want to protect myself and my students,” Gul said.
'Where did he get the courage?'
Psychologists discussing mass shootings in the United States (US) recently told AFP that post-traumatic stress can translate into such hyper-vigilance: a state of alert close to paranoia. But Gul is matter-of-fact.Militants have long targeted education in Pakistan, from the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in Swat in 2012 to the APS massacre and Wednesday's assault at BKU.
On Friday, the TTP faction behind the Charsadda attack vowed to continue targeting schools and students, calling them "nurseries".
For more detail Armed teachers in classrooms: 'You have guns. You can fight it out'
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