Peace conference: Mothers of APS victims demand justice

MPA’s jibe infuriates families of those martyred in Peshawar carnage.

LAHORE:

“We do not give a toss about the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Islamic State or the Afghan Taliban. We only want the perpetrators of the December 16 Peshawar carnage to be produced before us,” Shahnaz, the mother of Gulsher, one of the children martyred in the massacre said on Wednesday.

She was speaking at a session featuring lawmakers and mothers of those killed in the Peshawar carnage on the first day of a peace conference in the city. Nasira, the mother of Hassan Zaib Sheikh, said they were not asking the government for monetary compensation. She said they only wanted justice to be served.



Afshan, the mother of Muhammad Yaseen, called for the constitution of a judicial commission to probe the carnage on the lines of that looking into the Safoora massacre. “We were promised that Sitara-i-Imtiaz would be conferred on our children but there has been no movement on this account,” she said. Afshan voiced her disillusionment with the government saying she did not want monetary compensation. “He (Yaseen) was my only child. I want to know who killed him,” she said.

In her capacity as the General Secretary of the Women Caucus in the National Assembly Shaista Pervaiz tried to assure the mothers that all women parliamentarians wanted to call on the families of the deceased. Pervaiz said they had not been allowed to do so. “This is not the right place or time to shed light on who was approached for permission and refused to grant it,” she said.

The lawmaker said that the government had formulated the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism and was striving to ensure its effective implementation. “I address you as a mother. We stand shoulder-to shoulder with you,” Pervaiz said.

Her response failed to placate the mothers who said they wanted answers. “Why did this happen to our children…We want to ensure that what befell us does not befall anyone else,” said Shagufta, the mother of Ibrar.

The situation took a turn for the worse when Provincial Assembly Member Farah Manzoor quipped that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was busy dancing when the carnage took place. Manzoor’s comment incensed the mothers and left many of the relatives of those martyred in the carnage visibly exasperated. They were placated after Manzoor tendered an apology. Samina, the mother of Syed Fahd, left the stage at this point saying people apparently could not fathom their loss.

Earlier, Faisal Sabzwari of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) said the government was bearing the brunt of policy decisions taken in the 1980s and 1990s. He was speaking at a session on the NAP and its implementation. “They participated in the international great game and we are paying for it,” he said. Sabzwari said the increase in communal and sectarian violence was a by-product of the decisions.  He said it was being claimed today that India was patronising anti-state elements. Sabzwari questioned why the government had attempted to hold talks with them if this was the case.

He said police had been tasked with securing rallies of banned organisations. This, Sabzwari said, showed the degree to which the NAP was being implemented. He said the government had failed to curb incidence of hate speech as religion had become easy to manipulate. “Anyone with a beard can say anything they please and the people will follow them,” Sabzwari said. He said the government’s fear of a backlash would impede the NAP’s implementation.

MPAs Ramesh Singh Arora and Mary Gill, newspaper proprietor Arif Nizami and journalist Omar Quraishi also spoke at the first day of the conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2015.