Families of Peshawar school massacre victims await justice
Families of children killed or wounded in a school massacre said the government had broken its promise of delivering justice, as they marked the fourth anniversary of the attack in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
More than 148 people, most of them children, died and the Taliban said the assault and bloodshed was in revenge for their relatives who had been killed by the Pakistani army.
The Dec. 16, 2014, militant attack was one of Pakistan’s deadliest.
Aurengzeb Khan, who lost his son, said he had little faith that a judicial commission set up to investigate the tragedy would deliver results.
“I haven’t been compensated nor given any consolation by the government,” he told Arab News.
Fazl Khan, whose son also died, said he did not care about being compensated by the government; he only wanted justice.
“We still demand a high-level judicial probe into the incident to identify any security lapse and bring the perpetrators to task,” he told Arab News. “Only that will satisfy us.”
The school in Peshawar, a chaotic, teeming city on the edge of the country’s turbulent tribal belt, is operated by the army.
Although it enrolls civilian students, many pupils come from military families and were clearly the Taliban’s intended target.
On Sunday a special ceremony was held at the neat pink brickand-stone campus to honor the 134 children and 16 staff members killed.
Shah Farman, the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of which Peshawar is the capital, was the chief guest.
Similar events were held at other educational institutions in Peshawar, as well as around the country, to remember the survivors. Dozens of bereaved families staged a candlelight vigil in Peshawar, holding up banners and photos of their loved ones.
“Compensation is not a substitute,” Tufail Khattack told Arab News. “Even if I am given the entire wealth of Pakistan it will not be enough. But it is a matter of pride for me that I’m the father of a martyr, whose blood might ensure peace and tranquility in the country.”
Khattack said his second son, who was critically injured, was still at a trauma center. He was recovering from the tragedy and his treatment was extremely expensive, he added.
He said each victim’s family had been granted a PKR2 million ($14,412) compensation package and a plot of land but that these would not bring back “the person who was very close to my heart.”
Pakistan announced a 20-point national action plan to tackle militancy after the attack.
There would be expanded counter-terrorism raids, secret military courts and the resumption of hangings, as well as clauses banning the “glorification of terrorism and terrorist organizations through print and electronic media,” it said.
On October 5 the Supreme Court formed a judicial commission, led by a Peshawar High Court judge, to probe the carnage. The commission was to submit its report in six weeks, but the document is still pending.
Abdul Wahed Qadri, whose grandson was killed, said he was grateful to the chief justice for forming the judicial commission. “Otherwise we know that judicial commissions tend to yield no results,” he told Arab News.