ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said Pakistan “successfully defeated terrorism” as he vowed to never “let down the survivors and parents” of the victims of the deadly 2014 attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.
Dec 16, 2014, terrorists attacked & martyred over 140 ppl incl 132 children in APS,Peshawar. Pak has successfully defeated terrorism.I reiterate we will never let down the survivors & parents of our martyred children.There is zero tolerance for violence & those using it as a tool
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) December 16, 2021
The proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an Afghanistan-based militant group that is separate from the Afghan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the horrendous incident on December 16.
More than 140 students and staff were killed, many of them executed at point-blank range by gunmen who also detonated bombs around the school buildings.
APS reopened just one month after the attack. But pupils and parents complained of trauma for which many are still receiving psychological help.
The following year, the first site of the attack, an auditorium that turned into a scene of particular horror, was converted into a basketball court, and a new hall has been built elsewhere on the school’s neat campus.
The then-commander of the TTP, Umer Mansoor, who had claimed responsibility for the carnage, was killed in a United States drone strike in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on July 9, 2016, both Washington and Pakistan Army confirmed.
Recalling one of the darkest days in Pakistan’s history that changed the country forever, the prime minister said there will be “zero tolerance for violence and those using it as a tool”.
The government announced in January 2015 a 20-point plan to tackle militancy. Among the main thrusts of the National Action Plan (NAP) are expanded counter-terrorism raids, military courts, the resumption of hangings and promises to reform the justice system.
Earlier this month, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said the government had decided to review the plan in the wake of the killing of a Sri Lankan manager of a Sialkot business over blasphemy allegations.
Following the incident, Prime Minister Khan categorically said his government will not spare those who resort to violence in the name of Islam or the prophet.
“Let me make this clear [to everyone]: I have decided that from now we will not spare those who resort to violence in the name of religion, especially in the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.),” he said.
‘GREAT SACRIFISES’
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said despite the passage of seven years, the nation still hasn’t forgotten the tragedy.
In a statement, he said cowardly miscreants attacked the future of the nation and martyred them.
No one could hold back their tears by remembering this day, he said, adding the victims of the carnage united the whole nation against the menace of terrorism.
“As a nation, we have come a long way to defeat terrorism […] we are moving towards lasting peace and development in Pakistan,” said the minister.
BILAWAL PAYS TRIBUTES
Paying glowing tribute to the victims, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari demanded the beasts who masterminded, facilitated and executed the massacre must be brought to justice.
Bilawal said the nation still felt the pain of the great tragedy and people are waiting for justice to be delivered to the innocent souls.
He said that being victims of terrorism, his family and party will continue to raise their voices against extremism and terrorism.
