ISLAMABAD: Parents of the children who were killed in the attack on Army Public School (APS) Peshawar will be filing an application with the police in order to amend in the FIR for the incident.

Just after the attack on the school, conducted by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on December 16, 2014, in which 150 people, including 132 students were killed, an FIR was registered in the Gharbi police station in Peshawar, in which no one was nominated.

“Parents of the children who were killed in the attack met on Friday, October 7 and decided on filing an application to amend the FIR in order to nominate some people, including Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, school administration and concerned KP ministers,” said Sher Nawaz, the father of Yasir Iqbal, a second year student killed in the attack.

Parents of the children killed in the attack will also hold a sit-in in Islamabad on Oct 17

Parents of the children who were killed have been demanding that a judicial commission be formed to fix responsibility and punishing concerned officials.

“We have been demanding action against those responsible, but no one has bothered to do anything, which is why we will be going to Islamabad again on October 17,” Mr Nawaz said.

About 60 family members of the slain children had come to Islamabad on Sept 1 this year, demanding to meet with the prime minister, but were not allowed to enter the Red Zone. They had said they would hold a sit-in in front of Prime Minister House if they were not allowed to meet the prime minister.

Federal Minister for the Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry had then assured them that he would arrange a meeting of them with the prime minister in a week, a promise that has not been fulfilled over a month later.

The parents have not been contacted by anyone in Islamabad in the month since, said Ajoon Khan, the father of Asfand Khan, who was also killed in the APS attack.

“No one has even bothered to make a telephone call. We don’t have any other option and have to hold a sit-in in Islamabad. My son and I were very close because he was my eldest. Instead of taking action against those responsible, the government has just named a school in Islamabad after him,” he said.

An advocate of the Supreme Court who specializes in criminal cases, Riasat Ali Azad told Dawn the FIR cannot be amended via an application.

“However, the parents can file a ‘Subsequent Statement’ in which they can nominate the suspects, saying that they have come to know that the suspects were responsible and should be investigated. The police will attach the statement with the FIR and the suspects can be arrested on the basis of this statement,” he explained.

Advocate Azad said that previous judgments – including those of Supreme Court justices Deedar Hussein and Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and Islamabad High Court justices Shahid Hameed Dar and Shaukat Siddiqui – have maintained that the ‘Subsequent Statements’ prove police incompetence.

“The judgments also say that the police use these statements to make arrests and that therefore, they do not have any value,” he added.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2016