Third anniversary of deadliest attack on Army Public School Peshawar was observed on Saturday with the firm resolve to stand united to completely root out terrorism.
In a barbaric terrorist incident, probably the goriest in the history of the country, 144 innocents, 122 students and 22 teachers and support staff were killed by terrorists who attacked the school in 2014. After the goriest incident we realized that the inhumane terrorists country was fighting against can stoop to any depth in their desperation; on the fateful day the country’s children were singled out for an unspeakable and harrowing act of terror.
Leading politicians expressed their condolences on social media websites to show solidarity and sympathies with families of victims. It is pleasing that we have not forgotten the saddest incident, but the day should provide policy makers with self evaluation that how successful they remained in their pledge to root out terrorism from country.
After the incident in 2014, all the political parties by putting aside their political differences sat together in All Parties Conference and decided to implement 20 point National Action Plan to eradicate terrorism from our country. But it is unfortunate many vital points of NAP could not be implemented and now with the passage of time it seems urgency to eliminate terrorism has also vanished. Three years on the fight still continues with its completion still uncertain, terrorism incidents have been curtailed but the terrorists have still managed to strike somehow. The success of the military operations carried out by the military and the law enforcement agencies is there for everyone to see. However, the progress on the NAP remains a distant dream and it could potentially harm the success of the military operation.
Three years later, we must honour the memory of the martyrs of the APS as well as the courage of the survivors by strengthening our resolve to fight back against the terrorists’ agenda through a secure nurturing environment of learning and growth for all our nation’s children. We must stand resolute against extremism and terrorism on all fronts. We must never allow our future generations to forget the 16 December APS martyrs and survivors, but must honour them by dealing resolutely with terrorism in all its forms.
