Locked in stasis : Parents of APS victims threaten to protest outside PM House

Demand govt take perpetrators to task


Our Correspondent July 22, 2015
Demand govt take perpetrators to task. PHOTO: AFP

PESHAWAR: Parents who lost their children in the Army Public School massacre have threatened to hold sit-ins outside the Prime Minister House in Islamabad if the government does not address their grievances.

Speaking at a seminar in the provincial capital on Tuesday, parents pressed the government to take the perpetrators of the attack to task.

During the event, which was organised by Democratic Students Federation, parents said the government had announced the construction of new schools in the name of those who died in the attack. However, little progress has been made to bring these projects to fruition.

According to some of the parents, the government has only renamed old educational institutes to honour the memory of students who lost their lives in the massacre.

The parents urged the government to construct monuments named after the deceased children. They said it is the state’s responsibility to protect citizens but since December 16, 2014, law-enforcement agencies have only pinned the responsibility of the security lapse on each other.

Most parents at the event said APS survivors had not received adequate support and hence they performed badly on their board examinations.

DSF President Safeer Khan Durrani, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leader Arbab Mir Afzal, Pakhtoon Student Federation office-bearer Waseem Khattak and social activists were also present on the occasion.

Saying a prayer

A prayer ceremony for APS victims will be held at Chief Minister House in the city on Wednesday (today). According to a handout issued on Tuesday, PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his wife Reham Khan will attend the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2015. 

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