PM Nawaz and COAS Gen Raheel pay their respects at a ceremony at APS Peshawar. PHOTO: AFP
As the country marked the first anniversary of the sickening massacre at Peshawar’s Army Public School, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, speaking beneath portraits of young schoolchildren slain by Taliban on December 16, 2014, promised ‘vengeance for every drop of their blood’.
He also declared December 16 ‘National Day for the Promotion of Education’ while announcing that an ‘APS Martyrs University’ would be established in honour of the schoolchildren who had lost their lives in the worst-ever terrorist attack the country has seen in its long and deadly fight against terrorism.
Families of the victims along with civil and military leaders attended an emotional ceremony at APS in Peshawar to mark the gruesome assault, which claimed the lives of 147 people, including 122 pupils. A military official said there were some 2,500 guests at the event, including celebrities and sports stars.
Relatives were accompanied by students bearing images of their loved ones as they spoke one by one of children with bright smiles who worried about their hair and handwriting but had dreams of being artists and engineers. Many of the parents broke down on seeing students in the APS uniforms.
“My children, today I make this promise to you, that I will take revenge for every drop of your blood,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, addressing the victims directly. “Everyone involved in terrorism will be eliminated forever.”
Taking a strong stand against terrorism, he ruled out the possibility of negotiating with any perpetrator of violence. “We do believe in negotiations, but they are held between human beings. Terrorists involved in [acts such as the APS massacre], however, are not humans. Negotiating with them is out of the question!”
He said every year when the martyrdom of APS children and teachers would be commemorated, the resolve would be renewed by every child that “we have to educate the children of our enemies” to make them distinguish between right and wrong.
“We will give the new generation a Pakistan that is prosperous and peaceful - a place filled with harmony and free from the odour of gunpowder,” he said. The killing of schoolchildren has united the entire nation with a consensus that the perpetrators of this barbaric act must not be spared.
He said Operation Zarb-e-Azb and National Action Plan were going on successfully. The sacrifices of the country’s innocent people would not go to waste, he added. He mentioned that the Jawans of Pakistan Army under the leadership of army chief General Raheel Sharif were doing a marvellous job for securing the country from terrorists.
With brave armed forces, civil administration and the nation were on the same page and fully backed the operation which has broken the infrastructure of militants. He said he could feel the pain of the parents who had lost their children and prayed that may Almighty Allah ease their grief.
Premier Nawaz was the only speaker at the event. He announced the government would provide every victim’s family with a residential plot in the Defence Housing Authority. The families also received an honorary award and a certificate on behalf of the school.
The anniversary event had started with one-minute silence in respect of the deceased. The victims’ families were led in by a student of the APS with portraits of the slain children, receiving a warm welcome by everyone in attendance, who rose to their feet.
The premier, the army chief and his wife welcomed each and every student of the school.
Parents, siblings and other family members of the child victims held portraits of the students whose short lives were brutally ended last December. Some families also brought along with them a few of the belongings of the deceased.
The name of each child victim was called out, followed by a family member walking up to the photograph of the child to affix a rose next to the picture.
The event exhibited a national element of unity with attendance by the country’s political and military leadership. The prime minister’s cabinet members, AJK president, governors and chief ministers of the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan, three services chief joined parents and students to commemorate the APS martyrs. PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, ANP’s Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and other political figures were also in attendance.
Peshawariites also held their own ceremonies and candlelit vigils as the area around the military-run school was designated a red zone, with army helicopters hovering as hundreds of soldiers guarded main junctions.
At least a dozen families boycotted Wednesday’s event at the APS in protest, while parents also protested at a later ceremony organised by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government at the K-P Archives and Library, demanding an inquiry as Imran Khan tried to speak.
Civil society groups in other major cities organised their own vigils, while on social media, many Pakistanis changed their profile pictures to an image depicting an APS uniform with a bloody bullet hole and a caption reading: “Some stains don’t wash out”.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2015.
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