PESHAWAR: The third anniversary of the Army Public School Peshawar massacre was observed here on Saturday amid tears and sobs.

During a special ceremony, relatives of the APS students and staff members killed in the Taliban attack urged the nation to stand up to terrorists and their creators and supporters.

They said militancy was an ideology meant to carry out genocide of Pakhtuns, deprive their children of education and kill them to benefit others.

Third anniversary of APS killings marked

The relatives wondered why the government was reluctant to form a judicial commission to probe the school killings despite the repeated calls of the parents of martyred students.

The ceremony was organised at the Shuhada-i-Army Public School Library to mark the killing of 144 students and staff members by the Taliban militants during an attack on campus on Dec 16, 2014.

The event was attended by the APS Shuhada Forum, relatives of the 2014 attack victims and civil society activists.

The participants demanded the government execute the arrested former spokesman of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Ihsanullah Ihsan, in front of the APS campus to comfort the relatives of the people massacred.

APS Shuhada Forum general secretary Fazal Khan said the people, who had lost family members, especially children in the APS attack, continued to be in distress.

Mr Fazal, who had lost son in the attack, said usually, the grief and sorrow gradually decreased but the APS attack was so gruesome that the pain caused by it was increasing with every passing day.

“Pakistan is a strange country, where not a single person of the civil and military establishment has been punished for their failure to prevent the APS massacre, which shook the entire world,” he said.

The APS Shuhada Forum general secretary said no one had sought explanation from the then inspector general of police and station commander about the killings.

He said the parents of the APS students were not satisfied with the ‘stories’ told by the relevant quarters about the campus massacre by terrorists.

Mr Fazal regretted that 10 months after his arrest, TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan continued to be treated as a guest by the authorities concerned.

He also raised questions about the role of the judiciary on the matter saying the courts had ousted two prime ministers but failed to ensure exemplary punishments for the known terrorists.

“As a nation if we don’t stand up to militants and their creators, then they will continue to kill our children,” he said.

Former MNA Jameela Gilani of the Awami National Party said had the Pakhtuns challenged militants after the APS terrorist attack, the attacks on the Bacha Khan University Charsadda and Agriculture Training Institute Peshawar would have not occurred.

Asmat Shahjihan of the Awami Workers Party said the parents were afraid if their children would return from the school.

“We lost our children to terrorism but ironically, the nation is silent about it,” she said.

She warned the terrorists would continue killing Pakhtuns and their children inside educational institutions until the state’s policies were not changed.

The mother of two martyred students Noorullah and Saifullah said the militants had eliminated the identity of her family as she had two sons only.

She urged the nation to stand up to the militants and elements supporting them before all Pakhtuns were eliminated.

Chief of the Olasi Tehreek Dr Said Alam Mehsud said if a judicial commission could be formed to probe the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, then why that couldn’t happen for the APS attack.

“What a strange situation we face now as those who make efforts for the restoration of peace in the region are facing threats, while terrorists are roaming freely,” he said.

He criticised politicians for not demanding the formation of the judicial commission on the APS attack in parliament and assemblies.

Suleman Yousafzai, who heads a group of students and campaigning education, said terrorism could be overpowered by promoting the cause of education.

He said the government had pledged to establish new schools in the name of each martyred students in the APS attack but ironically that didn’t happen.

In Timergara and Buner, too, functions took place to mark the APS attack’s third anniversary with the speakers paying homage to martyrs and calling for strenuous efforts for the complete eradication of elimination from the country.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017