Intelligence agencies probing APS attack: Khattak

Says govt offers all-out support to families of martyrs

NOWSHERA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said on Saturday that the army and intelligence agencies were investigating the terrorist attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar.

“It was an army-run school and they took the responsibility of investigating the carnage. That’s why we don’t have details as to what happened on that fateful day,” he added. He was speaking at separate public meetings in Wolay and Gandheri areas in his native Nowshera district.

He maintained that even then the provincial government extended all-out support to the families of the APS martyrs and injured. “The provincial government gave Rs600 million compensation to the heirs of the victims of the tragedy,” he added.

Pervez Khattak said the provincial government approved the construction of a monument in memory of the martyrs of the carnage and named a library and various schools after them. “What else the parents want the provincial government to do. We accepted almost all the demands of the parents of the victims,” he added. He said the government was introducing drastic reforms in the system of governance to make it people-friendly and pro-poor.

Pervez Khattak stressed that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government would introduce such a system in the province that the people, particularly the oppressed class, would not depend on the influential people and politicians to get their legitimate work done in the government departments.

He pointed out that the government had recruited 13,000 teachers and would make another 11,000 appointments in the Education Department to fill the shortage of teachers in the state-run schools. He said the fresh recruitments had been made through the National Testing Service (NTS) to ensure merit in the process and fill the vacant positions at the earliest. “Had we made these fresh recruitments through the Public Service Commission, the process would not have been completed in five years,” he added.

He said the government had empowered the police and put an end to political interference in its affairs. He added the government was introducing ‘Police Act’ to keep a check on the police and ensure transparency in the department.

He said that new industrial policy would help bring industrial boom in the province and create job opportunities.

Criticising the Awami National Party (ANP), he alleged it promoted corruption and destroyed the state institutions by appointing corrupt, incompetent and blue-eyed people on top government positions. “The jobs were on sale in the previous ANP-led provincial government,” he claimed.