CM vows to avenge APS victims

PESHAWAR:

The Chehlum of dozens of schoolchildren methodically killed by Taliban gunmen in a sickening attack on the Army Public School (APS) was held on Tuesday with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak saying that the blood of the victims will be avenged.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and his spouse Reham Khan especially travelled to Peshawar to attend the Chehlum ceremony organised at the Chief Minister House where parents of the martyrs were also invited. The provincial government had already announced a public holiday to commemorate the event and honour the victims.

At least 150 people, mostly students, were killed in the bloody rampage by the Taliban gunmen at the APS on December 16. Imran Khan’s party, which is in power in K-P, had called off its 126-day-long dharna in Islamabad following the attack to lend support to the government to fight the war against militancy single-mindedly.

Speaking at the ceremony, which was also attended by Governor Sardar Mehtab and provincial ministers, Chief Minister Khattak said the process of naming Peshawar’s schools and landmarks after the APS martyrs was under way. He added that his government would also build a grand monument in the memory of the victims in consultation with the parents.

“We equally share the grief of the parents and swear on the blood of these little angels that the government will not only take revenge by wiping out terrorism but will also secure the future of our children,” he was quoted as saying in an official handout.

He said the government has not only improved policing and intelligence system but has also started parents-teachers councils for increasing security at schools. As part of its efforts to improve security, the government has started ‘dignified repatriation’ of Afghan refugees to their country, he added.

In his message on the occasion, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that the blood of the APS martyrs would not go to waste and the nation would never forget their sacrifice. He expressed deep sympathies with the parents of the children and said the entire nation stood with them in their hour of grief. He said he recalls the innocent faces of those children whenever he takes a decision against terrorists.

Imran Khan, who had come under scathing media criticism for a large entourage during his previous visit to the APS, travelled to the Chief Minister House on Tuesday without any protocol. Governor Sardar Mehtab also walked to the Chief Minister House to attend the gathering.

Controversy

After the ceremony, Nawaz, the father of Haris Nawaz and Ahmed Nawaz, who were respectively killed and injured in the APS attack, alleged that he was mistreated by former provincial health Shaukat Yousafzai.

Talking to journalists outside the Chief Minister House, he said his injured son was under treatment at the Lady Reading Hospital and he had come to seek financial assistance from the chief minister for his son’s treatment. “However, Shaukat Yousafzai misbehaved with me and abused me,” he alleged.

Yousafzai, however, denied the allegation, saying that the parents were their guests and it was impossible for them to misbehave with them, particularly on such occasion.

Later, the prime minister directed the PIMS management to immediately make arrangements for the treatment of Ahmad Nawaz, according to a statement. The federal government also constituted a medical board in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2015.