Pending justice

It has been 12 long years since the Army Public School massacre — one of the most high-profile and defining terrorism cases in Pakistan's history — and yet there is little to show in terms of credible judicial closure. For a tragedy that altered the country's security discourse and led to sweeping policy shifts, the slow drift of proceedings is deeply unsettling.

The recent acquittal of two accused by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Peshawar, on the grounds of insufficient evidence, brings that discomfort into sharp focus. The prosecution, led by the Counter-Terrorism Department, failed to present material that could legally link the accused to the 2014 attack that claimed over 150 lives, mostly of schoolchildren. The court, constrained by law, could not have ruled otherwise.

Two possibilities arise. Either individuals were nominated without the evidentiary foundation required to secure conviction, or the investigation failed to gather and preserve admissible proof capable of withstanding scrutiny in court. Neither reflects well on the system and in both scenarios, institutional competence comes into question. The declaration of several other suspects as absconders and the issuance of perpetual warrants may be procedurally necessary, but they do little to address the core issue of justice. For the families of the victims, this case is about assurance — that the state's response was not limited to rhetoric and policy announcements, but grounded in professional, methodical pursuit of justice. Anniversaries and commemorations honour memory. Only credible convictions honour accountability.

The APS attack was meant to be a turning point — not just in counterterrorism operations, but in institutional capacity too. Twelve years on, the absence of decisive legal outcomes suggests that reforms in investigation and prosecution remain uneven at best. If we cannot demonstrate tangible progress in a case of such national prominence, then the need for structural strengthening of our investigative agencies becomes urgent.