PESHAWAR: Addressing an event held here to commemorate the first anniversary of the Army Public School massacre, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the blood of the schoolchildren would not go waste and Dec 16 would be observed every year as the national day for promotion of education.

The prime minister said it was time to eradicate from the country the “darkness of ignorance” which had led to a rise of extremism.

The president of Azad Kashmir, chief ministers of the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the three services’ chiefs, parents and students gathered at the school where militants had shot dead 122 schoolchildren, the principal and several teachers in an attack on Dec 16 last year.

The prime minister announced that an APS Martyrs University would be opened in honour of the schoolchildren who lost their lives in the barbaric incident.

Every year, when the martyrdom of the children and teachers would be remembered, the resolve would be renewed by every child that “we have to educate the children of our enemies” to make them distinguish between right and wrong, he said.

Dec 16 to be national day for education

Prime Minister Sharif said the tragedy had strengthened the nation’s resolve to restore peace in the country.

“We will give the new generation a Pakistan that is prosperous and peaceful — a place filled with harmony and free from the odour of gunpowder.”

He said the killing of schoolchildren had united the nation with a consensus that the perpetrators of the act must not be spared.

After the incident the political leadership and military’s top brass unanimously decided to strike hard at militants.

The prime minister paid tribute to policy-makers for making an amendment to the Constitution for setting up military courts.

He said the Zarb-i-Azb military operation and the National Action Plan against terrorism were proceeding successfully and the sacrifices of innocent people would not go waste.

The soldiers under the leadership of Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif were doing a marvellous job for protecting the country from terrorists, he said.

The brave armed forces, administration and the nation were fully backing the operation which had broken the infrastructure of militants.

He said he could feel the pain of the parents who had lost their dear children and prayed that may Almighty Allah ease their grief.

He mentioned that according to the religious belief, the martyrs were immortal and said the deceased schoolchildren would live forever in the hearts of the nation.

The army chief received the parents of the martyrs upon their arrival at the school and expressed solidarity with their families.

Prime Minister Sharif, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif, Balochistan CM Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Pervaiz Khattak and GB CM Hafeezur Rehman gave away medals to the parents of the children who had lost their lives in the attack. Nayyar Ali Dada, architect of the Martyrs Memorial, was also awarded a medal.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2015