The writing on the wall: Diamer's torched schools bear a chilling warning
The night was still young on August 4 when arsonists began torching schools in a planned, simultaneously executed series of attacks in Gilgit-Baltistan's Diamer district.
By dawn, 14 schools, mostly girls-only, had been razed to the ground.
More than a month later, the flames have died, the ashes have disappeared in the wind, but the fear still survives.
Where there were classrooms brimming with students, there are now ashes. And where there was roof, there is now just a gaping hole. Rubble and wreckage have set in.
But none of that is the most chilling remnant of the arson spree. What haunts the locals the most is quite literally the writing on the wall.
"We will not rest until we've burned down all the girls schools."
That inscription, found on the blackened walls of two of the torched schools, reminds locals not only of what happened on that August night but also of what could happen again.
It's a statement of intent that reveals the mindset of extremist groups opposing education for girls.
The plague isn't exclusive to rural settings either. Torh valley, a relatively sprawling setting in an otherwise mountainous region, was perhaps the first one to have its girls schools burned.
According to the locals, it happened to two of their schools some eight years ago.
In the recent wave, Torh's Government Girls Primary School Seri fell victim.
Shamsul Haq, a local who resides near what remains of the school, remembers two things the most from that night: "loud crackling and intense heat".
“We saw the school on fire,” he says. “We, about 35 neighbours, gathered and attempted to bring the fire under control by dousing the school with water. After hectic efforts, the blaze was brought under control.”