What happened: The administration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa plans to build an education city in the militant South Waziristan tribal territory. It will be the province’s first-ever project of its kind. The “South Waziristan Education City” will house schools, colleges, and sub-campuses of various universities around the country, including those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and beyond. Details: The education city will be built in Barwand, which is located in the tribal district’s Mehsud-dominated sector. Dr Najeebullah, the education city’s project director, told Dawn that the first phase of the education city will take three years and cost Rs2.5 billion to complete. He stated that the education city would be built on a 7,000-hectare plot of land. Why it matters: During the previous two decades, South Waziristan was the hub of terrorism. Militant organisations either destroyed or transformed schools into hideouts in the Mehsud area, wreaking havoc on educational institutions. When asked why Waziristan was chosen for the education city, the project director stated that the main reason for choosing the tribal district was to engage youth and alleviate their sense of deprivation. The second purpose, he explained, was to take advantage of the area’s natural resources, such as mines and minerals, and to bring about a paradigm shift in agriculture through cutting-edge research and innovation.