LAHORE: A cross section of society including the political parties hit out at Charsadda’s Bacha Khan University attack and expressed solidarity with the families of the fallen students and university employees on Wednesday.

The ruling party was appalled at the tragedy and the Punjab government announced one-day mourning to show solidarity with the grieved. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif rang up Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Mehtab Abbasi and provincial minister Shah Farman to express sorrow.

Joining the condemnation was Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf whose MNA Jahangir Khan Tareen and former Punjab organiser Chaudhry Sarwar said the nation was united against terrorism. They expressed their indignation and grief over the loss of lives and assured the bereaved families that the party was standing with them in testing time.

Mr Tareen said Pakistan had paid a heavy price in the war against terrorism and stressed that the government should implement the National Action Plan (NAP) in letter and spirit. It’s vital that terrorists were eliminated from the country, he said and added that it was a collective responsibility to help create peace.

Chaudhry Sarwar said the terrorists could not silence the voice of “knowledge”. He said the war against terrorism was not the war of any political party or province rather it was the war of 20 million people of Pakistan.

PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Pervaiz Elahi and Moonis Elahi bemoaned that the slain students were the future and hope of Pakistan. “Making innocent students a target of terrorism is highly regrettable,” said a statement.

Praying for early recovery of the injured, the PML-Q leaders expressed solidarity with the bereaved families.

The Awami Workers Party was in a protest mode and demanded that the authorities fix responsibility for failure to thwart the terrorist attack in the university. It underscored the need to critically examine the NAP and demanded an explanation from the government as to why militant outfits continued to operate inside the country with impunity despite a huge spending on building up the military’s operational capacity.

Speaking to students at an expo “See Lahore” organised by the Islami Jamiat Talaba, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Senator Sirajul Haq said the Charsadda tragedy reflected the failure of the rulers to implement the NAP. He said the government’s foremost responsibility was to protect life, property and honour of the citizens but the government had totally failed in this respect.

“If the rulers had honestly tried to uproot the prevailing exploitative and class-based system and provide basic facilities of education, health, shelter and jobs to the people, terrorism and other such problems could have been curtailed,” he added.

IJT Pakistan Nazim Zubair dedicated the event to the memory of the victims of the Bacha Khan University. He said the IJT would observe black day in all educational institutions on Thursday (today).

The PPP leaders including Manzoor Wattoo, Shaukat Basra, Samina Ghurki, Haider Zaman Qureshi and Faisal Mir also condemned the attack. They together with civil society organisations demonstrated on Faisal Square, showing placards and banners depicting their emotions.

Rights activist Abdullah Malik said this attack was a repeat the APS and gave us a message that terrorists were still alive. He said the terrorists had no religion and humanity and they were no good or bad Taliban -- they were just killers and enemies of humanity.

Pakistan Awami Tehreek President Dr Tahirul Qadri said by attacking seats of learning the terrorists wanted to push the country toward the age of ignorance. He held the “saboteurs” of the NAP responsible for the attack.

Former president Pervez’s Musharraf’s All-Pakistan Muslim League also rapped the barbaric attack. “Make no mistake we shall not forgive those who think that targeting our youth or our children will deter us from crushing them,” the party said.

Meanwhile, the teachers associations of the Punjab University and the Government College University condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with the families of the victims.

The National Commission for Justice and Peace came up with a note of lamentation, with Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Yousaf Mani and Cecil Shane Chaudhry saying killing innocent students is unacceptable. “... It is essential for the government to take necessary action to provide safety and security to all educational institutions in order to protect the brilliant minds working to shape a better and intellectual Pakistan,” they said.

They said the Commission and the Catholic Church stood with the people of Charsadda in their hour of grief.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2016