Nobody is at fault, again

The report seemingly makes no mention of the intelligence failure that allowed the APS attack to happen

The committee tasked to produce a report on the massacre at the Army Public School, Peshawar, on December 16, 2014 has delivered its report to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak “a few days ago” — date unspecified. It was supposed to report within three days but true to form it took two months, and given the contents one has to wonder at the point of the exercise anyway. The committee had the brief of fixing the responsibility for the massacre, who or what was to blame for it and it has decided that nobody was to blame, or, seemingly, at fault. The inquiry panel interviewed a number of senior officers and officials, all of whom professed due diligence in the carrying out of their various duties. The school grounds were searched after the principal reported threats. The surrounding area was searched as well and nothing found in either case. The police maintained they had done all they could to avert any attack. Nobody was found to be negligent and nobody is to be booked, reprimanded or otherwise admonished.



It is something of a stretch to believe that nobody was in any way negligent, and the report is going to be received with varying levels of disbelief and probably outrage by the relatives of the dead as well as those who survived. The report seemingly makes no mention of the intelligence failure that allowed the attack to happen, the failure to notice that the school was being reconnoitered, or the failure to intercept the many conversations that must have occurred preparatory to the attack on what was an extremely soft target.

This newspaper has attempted to get an official comment on the report from the chief minister and the K-P chief secretary, but neither has responded to our inquiries. The report has been with them for several days and given the magnitude of the massacre, and its national and international profile, it is reasonable to expect a swift official response. Instead there is a ringing silence, and in that silence a profound disrespect for the dead and their families. The authorities must break this criminal silence.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd,  2015.

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