Seven years on, all ‘perpetrators of APS attack met their fate’

Report lauds Pakistan Army for making all-out efforts to uproot terrorism, extend support victims' families

ISLAMABAD:

All perpetrators of the 2014 Army Public School (APS) attack, including masterminds and those who executed the terrorist activity seven years ago, have been killed, sentenced to death and necessary action has been taken against them.

All 12 terrorists involved in the attack were apprehended by the security forces out of which six main terrorists were tried by the military courts and were handed over death sentences, The Express Tribune learnt on Wednesday. Five of them were executed while one terrorist filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Army was appreciated and no blame was affixed on it by the highest inquiry commission formed in the aftermath of the tragic incident that left more than 145 martyred, most of them school students.

Soon after the attack, a national consensus was achieved and the National Action Plan (NAP) was drafted to curb the rampant spread of terrorism in the country. The military, in successive campaigns, wrestled back control of areas in erstwhile FATA, which had become a hotbed of militant activity.

Read APS commission laments locals’ treachery, betrayal

The army also took disciplinary action against those individuals, who did not come up to the warranted necessary measures, including dismissal from service.

The judicial commission concluded on June 30, 2020, that terrorism perpetrated by the enemies of Pakistan reached its peak in 2013-2014.

The report stated that assistance provided to terrorists by the school’s locality is unpardonable. It said while this complicity of the local population compromised the efforts of the security apparatus – made within the available resources – it also augmented and intensified the accomplishment rate of the enemy's nefarious plan on the other.

It said no agency could outperform the impact of any attack effortlessly “when infidels are within”.

The commission had said that National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) had issued a generic threat alert about terrorists seeking to target army families and academic institutions as a result of Zarb-e-Azb and Khyber-1 operations.

The commission also lauded Pakistan Army for both uprooting terrorism from the country post-APS incident and extending unflinching support to the families.

Read more SC orders to make APS judicial commission report public

The next of kin of the martyred have also been looked after well. In total, over Rs1,207 million have been handed over to the families of martyred while more than Rs337 million have been given to the families of the injured as compensation or donation by the federal and provincial governments as well as the Pakistan Army.

Apart from this free Umrah tickets have been provided to three family members whereas they have also been given plots in DHA. The families can also avail free medical treatment at Combined Military Hospitals and can also go abroad for treatment.

Furthermore, one sibling of the martyred children is being provided free education at the Army Public School.