Islamabad: Civil society activists, human rights defenders, academics and school children held their annual candlelight vigil to remember and pay tribute to students, teachers and staff of the Army Public School (APS) Peshawar – both victims and survivors.
Civil society supported APS parents' and families’ demands after Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)’s barbaric attack and massacre. These demands have not changed during the past 9 years because they have not been addressed – especially their demand for answers to their questions about the attack itself, and the imperative need to see Justice being done – still denied.
The activists yet again reminded the State of its fundamental Constitutional responsibility to provide protection and security to all citizens, particularly to children and schools – and its repeated failure to do so, e.g.
TTP attacked hundreds of girls’ schools in Swat (2007-09); ex-FATA (now NMDs) and Frontier Regions (FRs), Pakhtunkhwa; Gilgit-Baltistan; APS Peshawar; Hangu government school where our brave child-hero Aitezaz Hassan Bangash Shaheed gave his own life to save his school mates.
Activists repeated the APS families’ demands to the State: no “reconciliation talks” with Taliban and offshoots, no appeasement, no surrender, no distinction between “good” vs. “bad” Taliban, no “military assets”, no “strategic depth”, the protestors demanded. Civil society reminded the State that Afghan and Pakistani Taliban are self-proclaimed twin brothers, with exactly the same ideology and political philosophy. They said Pakistani Taliban and their offshoots are repeatedly attacking security installations – we lost 23 soldiers in just one attack this week (DIK, South Pakhtunkhwa).
"After 80,000 Pakistani lives lost, we can no longer witness relentless terrorist attacks on our children, citizens, security personnel, LEAs." The participants denounced Pakistan’s enforced deportation of Afghan refugees and indiscriminate repatriation of those Afghan citizens who are at high risk of imprisonment or death on their return to Taliban-headed Afghanistan.
They said this is a violation of UN Conventions and global humanitarian principles. They repeated the urgent need to implement the National Action Plan (2014) in letter and spirit; to repeal the so-called “Single National Curriculum” (2021); to counter the rapid spread of youth radicalization, by eradicating poverty, unemployment; and to focus on population stabilization. They said that activists continue to stand in solidarity with the APS Peshawar families – and with suffering fellow-Pakistanis, Palestinians, Afghans and Kashmiris.
