The first anniversary of deadliest attack on Army Public School Peshawar was observed on Wednesday with the firm resolve to stand united to completely root out terrorism.
The main ceremony to mark the day took place at Army Public School in Peshawar where families of the victims, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, chief ministers of all four provinces, PTI chief Imran Khan and other high officials were present. Prime Minister in an emotional address to the children pledged that nation shall take revenge for every drop of their blood. He also said that APS tragedy has united the whole nation and fixed the future course for Pakistan. Governments of all provinces announced public holiday has been. Various organizations held functions including rallies, seminars, and symposia to pay homage to the martyrs. Our nation suffered an unimaginable tragedy on December 16 last year when school children and their teachers were martyred in a barbaric terrorist attack on the School. Our children were martyred but they also inspired the nation to be united and strong and remained determinant not to be crippled by the terrorists and to fight back. They unified and led the nation out of its shock and horror by inspiring a new resolve within us all never to succumb to the terrorists. A year later we must honour the memory of the martyrs of the APS Peshawar 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.
We must salute to our martyred children; who inspired the nation to be united in fight against terrorism.