PESHAWAR: Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday demanded the government to ensure justice for the Army Public School Peshawar students martyred in the Dec 16, 2024, terrorist attack, and release the report of a judicial probe into the carnage.

During a sitting chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, the lawmakers also said that like Dec 16, 1971, when Dhaka fell, Dec 16, 2014, was one of the darkest days in the country’s history.

Member of the opposition Awami National Party Mohammad Nisar Baaz said that all stakeholders agreed on a National Action Plan after the APS attack but it was never implemented.

He complained that those behind the APS massacre were never exposed.

Urge govt to make APS attack’s probe report public

Mr Baaz said a judicial commission was formed to investigate the Dec 2014 campus attack but unfortunately, its report was never made public.

He said if such an incident had taken place anywhere else in the world, the culprits and all their supporters would have been eliminated.

The ANP lawmaker said there was unrest in the province but the state institutions and provincial and federal governments were silent about it.

He complained about targeted killings in Khyber, Bajaur, Kurram and Waziristan tribal districts and said that people received death threats but they’re not protected by law-enforcement agencies.

Mr Baaz demanded dispensation of justice to families of martyred APS students and staff members. He insisted that those arrested for killing innocent schoolchildren were given a “safe passage.”

Rangrez Khan of the treasury benches complained that the findings of any of the commissions tasked with probing major national tragedies were ever made public as vested interests didn’t want culprits to be exposed.

Member of the opposition PPP Ahmad Karim Kundi said that December was a horrible and painful month in the history of the country.

He said that the country’s first elected prime minister Benazir Bhutto was martyred on Dec 27, while the fall of Dhaka and APS carnage occurred on Dec 16.

Mr Kundi said that Dhaka fell in 1971 due to the silencing of democratic voices, inequality and injustices.

“All political parties and national institutions jointly finalised NAP and agreed that talks would never be held with armed men nor would there be any space in the state for them,” he said.

The lawmaker demanded the formation of a truth and reconciliation commission in the house to ascertain those who brought armed groups back to the province, and said that culprits should be punished.

Treasury MPA Munir Hussain said that besides economic factors and injustice, there were political reasons for the fall of Dhaka as well as public mandate for election winners in East Pakistan wasn’t accepted. He insisted that the same happened in 2024, too.

Law minister Aftab Alam Afridi said that the countries, whose policies were based on the principle of justice, had never witnessed incidents like APS massacre.

He said that the policies, which were made to benefit individuals, proved dangerous for the country in the long run.

Responding to lawmaker Kundi’s criticism, Mr Afridi insisted that it was the responsibility of the head of the state to “mainstream those who took up arms.”

He said that besides the powers-that-be, those nurtured by them were also responsible for the country’s economic and political crises.

The minister said on one hand, the common man was asked to pay multiple taxes but on the other, certain people were making money from the unchecked smuggling of Iranian petroleum products into the country.

He said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s movement for the country’s real freedom would continue.

Earlier, the house passed the KP Registration of Brick Kilns Bill, 2024, which was tabled by adviser to the chief minister on industries, commerce and technical education Abdul Karim Khan.

The chair adjourned the sitting until 2pm on Dec 30.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024