Nation pledges united stand against terrorism through education promotion

LAHORE: Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani Nobel Prize laureate and the youngest ever activist for female education, shares in her well written diary ‘with guns you can kill terrorists, but with education, you can kill terrorism.

Internationally renowned security technologist and writer of more than 12 books, Bruce Schneier defines it as ‘terrorism itself is not a crime against the people or property, it is a crime against our minds, by using the death of innocents and destroying our property they try to make us extremely fearful.’

Subsequently, when we dare to refuse to be terrorised, and when we are indomitable in the face of terror, the terrorists fail even if their attacks succeed, he writes. The nation is marking today the sixth anniversary of the Army Public School (APS) Peshawar’s carnage on December 16, 2014. A total of 150 people including 133 children and 17 staff members of the APS were martyred on the day, when armed terrorists, wearing paramilitary uniforms, belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) entered the school premises to carry out the horrific attack.

In APS, more than 1,000 students, from preschool to high school, were present on the day, when the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire on the innocent students and teachers, while entering classrooms and auditoriums, killing young students and teachers. However, since then the country is witnessing a shift in public opinion on the country’s struggle against terrorism.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan, in connection with Army Public School’s young martyrs’ day said that Pakistani nation had rendered unprecedented and heavy sacrifices in war against terrorism and had always taken prompt and indiscriminate actions against any form of extremism. He said that nation today was more determined by reiterating its pledge to root out terrorism and extremism in all its manifestations and ranks from our country. The grief stricken, parents of innocent children still vigil candles in memory of their beloved children to pay them love and homage.