Army Public School attack: 90 people to record statements with commission

PESHAWAR: About 90 people including the surviving students and parents of the martyred students have registered themselves for recording statements with the Judicial Commission set up to probe the December 2014 attack on the Army Public School.

A total of 147 people, including 132 schoolchildren, were martyred in the gruesome act carried out by six militants affiliated with the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on December 16, 2014.

The focal person for the Judicial Commission, Muhammad Imran, confirmed that about 90 people including parents, students and others have got registered with the commission.

He said the commission would start recording statements of six to eight people on a daily basis from October 29.

On October 19, the Judicial Commission had issued a public notice stating that everyone, particularly the parents of the martyred students, should register themselves with the secretary of the commission in order to produce any evidence and record their statements.

On the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Peshawar High Court chief justice ordered the constitution of the commission comprising Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan to probe the 2014 carnage.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, on October 5, ordered the formation of the inquiry commission.

Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had taken notice of the issue in April this year when several parents of the martyred students had approached him during his visit to Peshawar and requested him to redress their grievances.

Subsequently, on May 9, a Supreme Court bench headed by the chief justice issued verbal orders for conducting an inquiry into the occurrence through a Judicial Commission comprising a judge of the PHC. However, as no written order was communicated to the high court, the commission could not be constituted.

On October 5, the apex court again took up the case for hearing and issued a written order for formation of the commission.

The prime grievance of the complainants is that the officers concerned responsible for negligence were not made accountable as they did not respond to the threat alert prior to the incident.