PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is likely to announce a public holiday in the province on the first anniversary of the Army Public School and College Peshawar carnage on Dec 16.

Special assistant to the chief minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani told reporters here on Friday that a proposal was under consideration to declare public holiday on Dec 16 to honour the victims of the APS attack.

He said President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and leaders of all political parties would be invited to attend the anniversary function to be held on the premises of the APS.

To invite president, PM, army chief and political leaders to the APS attack anniversary function

“The supreme sacrifice of students and teachers of the APS had united the entire nation against terrorists and that is why political and military leadership are being invited to this event,” he said.

The special assistant said the APS students would host the anniversary function.

A mass shooting had taken place inside the school on Dec 16 last year when students were present in the auditorium.

Terrorists had killed 144 students and teachers, including principal, while 118 were wounded.

Four terrorists involved in the massacre have been hanged to death, while black warrants for four others have been issued.

Several cases of the others involved in the barbaric act are pending with the courts.

Mushtaq Ghani said PTI chairman Imran Khan would lead a peace march from Chief Minister’s Secretariat to Peshawar Municipal Library after attending the anniversary function.

He said the library would be named Shuhada-i-APS Library.

The special assistant said the provincial government had named 111 schools and three roads after the APS victims, while the same had been done to five schools in Fata, two in Punjab and one in Balochistan.

He said the government had announced Tamgha-i-Shujaat for 142 deceased and Sitara-i-Shujaat for two.

Mushtaq Ghani said the psycho-social rehabilitation centre was established for the parents of all terrorism-affected APS students at the Combined Military Hospital Peshawar, where therapies were provided.

He said the affected families were offered Umrah package, while students, teachers and their guardians visited friendly countries, including the US, China, Turkey and Oman.

The special assistant said the government had announced a package for the affected families, which included jobs for the next kin of attack victims, free education for one brother/sister of every attack victim, admission for injured students to cadet colleges, and payment of Rs2 million to the next family member of the deceased students.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2015