2nd anniversary of APS carnage being marked today

PESHAWAR: The second anniversary of the gruesome attack on the Army Public School is being observed today to pay homage to the martyrs of the terrorist act.

It was on December 16, 2014, when a group of terrorists barged into the spacious Army Public School located in the Peshawar Cantonment and started indiscriminately killing everyone in sight irrespective of age and gender. The death toll was 147, including 132 schoolchildren.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has already announced holiday for all the educational institutions in the province to mark the day.  Functions have been planned in different educational institutions and other places to remember the young martyrs.

The main function would be held at the Army Public School and attended by the students and parents of the martyred students. Corps Commander Peshawar Lt Gen Hidayat ur Rehman and his wife would attend and host the event in memory of the APS martyrs at the school.

The civil society organisations would hold Quran Khwani and subsequently a protest sit-in outside the Peshawar Press Club. Quran Khwanis and other functions would be arranged in the scores of government schools that have been named after the martyred students.

On Thursday evening, a large number of students and parents gathered at the Directorate of Archives Library to remember the students, teachers and other school staff who lost their lives in the incident. They lit candles in remembrance of their dear ones. A large banner was affixed to the wall that contained portraits of the martyred students and staff members of the APS. The pictures of the martyred students and teachers have been displayed on the roads.