Imran Khan launches construction of monument in memory of APS martyrs

Emotional scenes seen when mothers, other family members of slain students burst into tears after a song was played

Bureau report

PESHAWAR: Amid protest by some parents demanding judicial inquiry into the attack on the Army Public School, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan on Wednesday launched the construction of a monument in memory of the martyred students.

Addressing the function on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack, he pledged that all out efforts would be made to fulfil the demands of the martyrs’ parents.The monument is being built on the premises of the Directorate of Archives and Libraries near the Peshawar Museum.

Emotional scenes were seen when mothers and other family members of the slain students burst into tears after a song prepared by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Department was played about the horrific incident.

The belongings of the APS students were displayed in the Archives Hall. Their photos were also displayed on the walls of the hall. The PTI leader announced naming the under-construction Technical University in Nowshera after the APS victims.

He said it was due to the sacrifices of the APS students that the level of terrorism in the country had come down. He said the APS incident united the political parties and prompted them to find an amicable solution to the menace of terrorism.

Imran Khan told the parents that though they were not able to bring back the martyred students to life, the only thing they could do was to pray for them.

The PTI chairman told the parents that he had deputed provincial assembly speaker Asad Qaiser to keep him updated about the situation regarding the APS incident and the parents’ views. Earlier, when Imran Khan came to the stage for delivering his speech, some of the parents of the slain APS students started protest and demanded judicial inquiry into the incident.

The parents said they didn’t need any medals and prizes, but wanted an independent and impartial inquiry into the killing of their children in the army-run school.

The protesting parents warned they would continue their protest and raise their concerns at every forum until they got clear-cut answers. “We need answer to our questions. Why our children were brutally gunned down in the army-run school? This is fraud. Why judicial commission was not formed to probe the incident so far. Why responsibility has not been fixed despite the lapse of one year?” the protesting parents asked.

There was noise in the hall due to non-stop protest of the bereaved parents, though organisers of the event and PTI local leadership kept trying to convince them to stop their protest.

Imran Khan finally intervened and called the protesting parents to the stage to convey their grievances and demands.

Fazal Khan, the father of a martyred APS student, said that they didn’t need money, plots of land or other compensation in return for the blood of their children. “Everything happening in the context of the APS attack is a drama. Why provincial police chief Nasir Khan Durrani was not suspended even though he stated that the APS incident occurred due to security negligence,” Fazal Khan argued.

Waving his cellphone from the stage, he claimed he had a video recording in the phone of the IGP’s statement in which he confessed the security failure at the APS.

He said why only a police head-constable and a constable was deputed at the APS despite intelligence report circulated on August 28, 2014 that militants can specifically attack the Army Public School and College. “Only a judicial commission can properly investigate the gory incident of APS,” he stressed.

“The Turkish government has established a monument months ago in the memory of the victims of APS while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has yet to establish it,” he said.

Speaking at the gathering, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said the victims of the APS attack would be remembered forever. He said the international community had declared the APS attack as 9/11 of Pakistan.

He said terrorists had attacked places of worship and schools and killed thousands of innocent people, though Islam didn’t allow the killing of non-Muslim without any reason.