Double standards and the APS carnage

One of the darkest days in the history of Pakistan was December 16^th 2014 when six terrorists, all foreign nationals, attacked the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar. When the shooting was over there were 156 dead, including all the gunmen and 132 children. Today the parents of many of those that died have a range of grievances, in particular that the central government has adopted double standards in dealing with the victims of the massacre.

Specifically they complain that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his then government failed to visit survivors and relatives of the dead despite repeated invitations to do so. They criticise the protocol extended to Malala Yousafzai during her recent visit — which was state sponsored and managed throughout and presumably at state expense — and whilst they do not criticise the sacrifices made by Ms Yousafzai they complain bitterly that they are the victim of double standards and they have a point.

Although not stated explicitly the underlying dissatisfaction lies in the suspicion that had the APS massacre occurred elsewhere such as ‘another part of the country’, a thinly veiled allusion to Punjab, the response by the federal government would have been swift, comprehensive and ongoing. It is of course impossible to prove this but it cannot be dismissed as an overheated conspiracy theory. When you have lost your children to terrorism the scars last a lifetime, and some wounds never heal. The impression of partiality however real or imagined is going to cut to the bone. There are hundreds of victims of the APS massacre still alive, many with life-changing injuries and others suffering daily mental anguish that it takes very little to exacerbate. That is not going to abate and it behoves the current dispensation to redress at least some of the inequities that are self-evident to the living victims. Recognition of that by whatever means may at least salve their pain.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2018.

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