PESHAWAR: Parents whose children died in the 2014 Army Public School massacre in Peshawar have welcomed the announcement of judicial commission into the incident, saying that it offers the only ray of hope of securing an impartial inquiry.
The Taliban’s attack on Dec. 16, 2014 killed 147, including 122 students.
On 9 May, a two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar ordered the setting up of a judicial commission to probe the incident and compile the report within two months.
Parents of the child victims have long been demanding a thorough inquiry to investigate who was responsible for the security and intelligence failures that allowed terrorists to attack the army-run school.
Ajun Khan, whose son Asfan, was killed in the attack, told Arab News: “Those responsible for security should be brought to justice.
“A joint inquiry was conducted by the army and police soon after the attack, but the inquiry (report) is still a secret.” He added that a meeting to lobby the provincial government, as well as an approach to the Prime Minister, had both failed to produce answers.
Falak Naz, who lost her sons Noorullah Durrani and Saifullah Durrani, said the campaign for information would continue until they had answers.
“Our question is how the terrorists came to know children were in the auditorium? The school has huge premises and the attackers reached the auditorium directly and killed the students,” she said.
Militant gunmen fired shots into the school hall where 25 pupils were sitting for a chemistry exam, only two of the pupils survived.
A senior Supreme Court lawyer, Noor Alam, said the remit of the judicial commission would be to determine responsibility.
He added that a judicial officer appointed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province government would head the commission and that after the commission was set up a public appeal would be issued asking people to come forward with information about the incident.
In February this year the Peshawar High Court dismissed a petition from the APS parents for a judicial commission on the grounds that it was the mandate of the government.
The Pakistan Taliban claimed the responsibility for the attack.
The army executed at least four of the terrorists involved in the school attack after trying them in a military court.
Families of victims of army school massacre welcome judicial inquiry
Families of victims of army school massacre welcome judicial inquiry
- The Taliban attacked the school in Peshawar on Dec.16 2014, killing 147 people, including 122 students
- Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar ordered a judicial commission to probe the terror attack and compile a report within two months
Afghanistan launches retaliatory attacks on Pakistan as tensions escalate
- At least 66 Afghans have been killed by Pakistan’s strikes, Afghan authorities say
- Afghanistan has called for dialogue while Pakistan ruled out any talks with Kabul
KABUL: Afghanistan has launched new attacks on Pakistan’s military bases, the Afghan defense ministry said on Saturday, as cross-border clashes escalated between the neighbors after months of tension.
The latest flare-up erupted after Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered a retaliatory offensive from Afghanistan along the border on Thursday.
The two countries have engaged in tit-for-tat attacks since, marking the most serious development in ongoing tensions between the two countries, which agreed to a ceasefire last October following a week of deadly clashes.
Afghanistan’s Air Force has “once again launched airstrikes on Pakistani military bases” in Miranshah and Spinwam, the Afghan Ministry of National Defense said on X on Saturday, claiming that the strikes caused “severe damage and heavy casualties.”
“These successful operations were conducted in response to repeated aerial aggressions by the Pakistani military regime,” the ministry said.
Afghan forces also launched similar strikes against military targets in Islamabad and Abbottabad on Friday, which the ministry said was in retaliation of aerial attacks by Pakistani forces in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia.
At least 66 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Pakistani strikes, with another 59 others wounded, according to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Afghan government.
Pakistan has maintained that it is targeting only military targets to avoid any civilian casualties, in compliance with international law.
Pakistani officials said its forces have killed more than 330 Afghan fighters and targeted 37 military locations across Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, chief spokesperson for the Afghan government, earlier called for talks to resolve the crisis.
“We have always emphasized peaceful resolution, and now too we want the issue to be resolved through dialogue,” he said on Friday.
However, Pakistan has ruled out any talks with Kabul.
“There won’t be any talks, there is nothing to talk about. There’s no negotiation. Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end,” Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Pakistan’s prime minister, said on Friday.
Pakistan is accusing the Afghan Taliban of sheltering fighters from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and allowing them to stage cross-border attacks — a charge Afghanistan denies, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
As international calls for mediation grow amid the escalating hostility, Afghans across the country are growing fearful of the violence.
“Everyone heard the jets. This is the first time since the withdrawal of US invaders that we have heard such a horrible noise and news of damage. It is not good for us,” said Kandahar resident Shahid Zamari.
“We had forgotten the US war and its bad impact on us, on our families, on our children. And now this has come upon us again — by Pakistan, and in the holy month of Ramadan.”
When the strikes hit Kabul at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Saleema Wardak moved quickly to wake up her six children and escape outside, assuming the strong jolt that shook her house was an earthquake.
“While standing in the yard, my husband told me it was not an earthquake but an explosion. Then we heard the crazy sounds of planes, and shooting from the mountains against the planes,” she told Arab News.
“We hid inside, worried another bomb would fall on us. People say Pakistan is targeting civilians on purpose to increase pressure on the Taliban. So we hid … The world is unjust … They do not value the blood of the poor.”
For Sabawoon, a 23-year-old student from eastern Kunar province’s Asadabad city, the coming days are filled with uncertainties.
“What to do? Where to go? We have to stay and find our way to survive,” he told Arab News. “God willing, nothing bad will happen to us. If they are bombing us, what can we do?”
