PESHAWAR/KARAK: Civil society activists and people from other walks of life staged a rally and held a candle-light vigil in the provincial capital on Monday to pay homage to the victims of the recent Bacha Khan University Charsadda terrorist attack, which killed 21 people.

Barrister Hashim Raza and Hamid Gul led participants who held black flags, wore black armbands and shouted slogans against terrorism, extremism and the Charsadda attack.

The rally began from the city downtown on the Circular Road, passed through various commercial markets and bazaars, and ended near the ‘martyrs’ monument’ of Qissa Khawani Bazaar.

The participants later lit candles on the monument to pay homage to the BKU attack victims.

Civil society, political activists hold rallies, candlelight vigil

They condemned the growing acts of terrorism and extremism in the country and said peace was inevitable for national progress and development.

Mr Raza said terrorists couldn’t cow the nation and that peace would be restored in the country with the sacrifices of the people.

He deplored the recent terrorist attacks on educational institutions and said such acts of terrorism were meant to keep the nation’s children ignorant.

The civil society activist however said such attacks could not discourage the nation and instead, they would trigger more initiatives for the promotion of education in the country.

He called for religious harmony and national unity to foil the growing internal and external challenges to the country.

Mr Raza asked parents to keep sending children to schools and colleges for a better future.

Other speakers including Hamid Gul, Dr Liaquat and others also asked people to forge unity to defeat terrorists.

They demanded that the government implement the National Action Plan on security in letter and spirit.

Also in the day, the ANP and PPP activists on Monday took out a joint rally in Takht-i-Nusrati area of Karak to protest the attacks on educational institutions including the BKU Charsadda.

The rally was led by ANP district president Sajjad Ahmad Khan and PPP district general secretary Jehanzeb Khattak.

It started at Shuhada Park and ended at the general bus stand.

The participants carried placards carrying slogans for peace and shouted slogans against terrorism.

The speakers condemned the terrorist attacks on the BKU and Army Public School Peshawar and said the acts of terrorism were a great conspiracy against the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to keep them educationally backward.

They said killing of innocent human beings was equal to the killing of the entire humanity.

The speakers said if terrorists wanted to kill students to keep others from getting education and the people would foil the conspiracy.

They said the people would offer all possible sacrifices for the progress of Pakhtuns.

The speakers demanded foolproof security for the educational institutions and implementation of the National Action Plan on security to eliminate terrorism from the country.

The participants later dispersed peacefully.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2016