PESHAWAR: Seventh anniversary of Army Public School Peshawar massacre was observed here on Thursday and several events were arranged in the provincial capital to commemorate the day.

During the day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif visited Army Public School and prayed for the victims of the tragedy.

Talking to parents of the martyred students, Mr Saif said that sacrifices of the APS student would always be remembered. He said that the martyred children united the nation against terrorism.

Besides, the students of different educational institutions of Peshawar held the symbolic ‘educational sit-in’ and lit candles in the remembrance of APS attack victims.

Activists Shafeeq Gigyani, Fahad Kamal, Ibrahim Aingar, Sulaiman Yousafzai, Safeer Durrani, Usman Khan, Aminullah Kundi and other student leaders spoke on this occasion.

The educational sit-in was staged following the APS attack for six days, demanding secure, peaceful and quality education.

An event was also held at Archives Hall to remember the martyrs of the APS attack. Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement chief Maznoor Ahmed Pashteen also attended the event.

Separately, parents of APS martyrs held protest against a private TV channel for what they called airing fake news regarding them. They said that the TV channel accused them of getting benefits from government.

Advocate Ajoon Khan, one of the protesting parents, told Dawn that the TV channel aired some tickers on Thursday morning about benefits given to them by the state. He said that about 35 parents went to the TV channel office to protest the news. He said that the protest ended following intervention of president and general secretary of Peshawar Press Club, who assured them of taking up the issue with the channel management.

In Lower Dir, schools safety cell in collaboration with Unicef arranged different functions and walks in about 1,000 government schools of the district to remember the APS martyrs.

The newly-posted district education officer, Prof Uzair Ali, Deputy DEO Miftahud Din, DDEO Haji Ali Haidar and other officers visited various schools and appreciated the efforts of management for observing the day with zeal and enthusiasm.

In Mansehra, different events were organised jointly by the directorate of elementary and secondary educations safety cell and Unicef across the district to commemorate the day.

Quran Khawani and prayers were held at the public sector educational institutions. The students paid rich tributes to the martyrs of APS in the morning assemblies across the district.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2021