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Friday March 29, 2024

APS massacre united nation against terrorism: Shahbaz

By our correspondents
December 16, 2017

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday said the savage killers made the innocent students of Army Public School (APS)Peshawar a victim of their worst-ever barbarianism on December 16, 2014, but it made the entire nation unite in the war against terrorism.

“Wonderful successes were achieved due to the consensus decisions in this war. As a result, peace has been restored in the motherland today,” he added. In his message issued on the eve of the third anniversary of the Army Public School martyrs, the chief minister said, “The martyred teachers and the children are the heroes of the whole nation and they will remain so forever. The nation is still saddened over the martyrdom of innocent children in APS.” Shahbaz promised that the debt of the martyred children would be paid by completely eradicating from the terrorists.

He expressed the satisfaction that after Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the backbone of the terrorists had been broken through the Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad. “We will not sit idle till nipping the menace of terrorism from the bud, he added.”

He said establishment of a society based on the societal norms of tolerance and broadmindedness was a mission, adding that “this goal will be achieved”. Separately, the chief minister addressed a meeting held at the Civil Secretariat from London through the video link and reviewed progress on the under-construction Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplant Institute (PKLI). Provincial ministers Khawaja Salman Rafique and Rana Mashhood Ahmed, Punjab government spokesman Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan, chief secretary and others officials attended the meeting. In another message, Shahbaz expressed a deep sense of grief over the death of Muhammad Yousaf Tihami – father of Abid Tihami, a senior journalist and group editor/adviser correspondents’ network of Jang Group. Separately, he expressed his deep sense of grief over the death of a mother and two children due to fire in the Nishat Colony area of Lahore. He extended sympathies to the heirs and sought a report from the administration.