PESHAWAR, Oct 31: The Alliance for the Protection of Human Rights (APHR) on Tuesday blamed the Pakistan army for the brutal killing of 82 people in Bajaur on Monday.

“The Pakistan army is unable to protect its citizens, rather it is terrorising and killing them. For how long will we be the target of our own army?” speakers said at a protest held in front of the Peshawar Press Club.

Rights activists and members of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Aurat Foundation, Shirkat Gah, Khewando Kor, Strengthening Participatory Organisation and Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child under the umbrella of the APHR marched towards the Governor’s House to register their protest.

They chanted slogans against the government and the army calling it ‘corrupt’.

They alleged that Inter-Services Public Relations chief Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan was a ‘devil’s advocate’ as he was covering up the US strikes by claiming that those were conducted by Pakistani forces.

Police stopped the marchers before they could reach the Governor’s House. The participants of the procession, which later turned into a public meeting, offered fateha for those killed in Bajaur.

Farah Qail Shah, an MPA from the Awami National Party, in her speech said: “If this situation persists and people don’t protest the atrocities of the army, very soon it will be our turn.”

Rakhshinda Naz, a women rights activists, pointed out that everyone under the age of 18 years is a child according to the convention on the rights of the child and said Pakistan is a signatory to it.

She regretted that children were among the victims of the Bajaur strikes and held the government responsible for the killing. “Nobody is safe here except the murderers,” she said.

Children are sacrificed to make leaders of America and Britain happy as every time someone from the two countries visit Pakistan, they are welcomed with the killing of civilians in tribal areas, Ms Naz said.

The APHR also issued a statement later which said: “A report by the US television channel ABC that a US predator plane had fired missiles at the seminary in Bajaur leaves no doubt about the US involvement.”