Pakistan commemorates 1st anniversary of Peshawar massacre

In an incident which sent shockwaves the country, Taliban militants stormed the school in the north-western city, killing 151 people, mostly students, on December 16, 2014. The conference was held on the eve of the first anniversary of the Peshawar school attack.

Pakistan on Wednesday paid tributes to the victims of Peshawar’s Army Public School attack on the first anniversary of the massacre.

December 16, 2014: the day when 144 human beings, including 132 children of the Army Public School (APS), were killed by seven Taliban gunmen.

“Everyone is traumatised inside the school”, said Mehran Khan, a 14-year-old student at the school said.

Bearing images of students and teachers slain in the Peshawar attack, mourners congregated on Wednesday at the Army Public School where the deadly assault took place one year ago. “Time has come to root out terrorism”, Nawaz Sharif told a largely-attended gathering at the school building in Peshawar”.

Ghulam Rasool Shah, then deputy of group’s chief Malik Ishaq, also termed the barbaric act as worst example of cruelty which had no religious or social justification.

In the wake of the attack, Pakistan stepped up its campaign against Islamic militants, lifting a moratorium on the death penalty and trying alleged terrorists in military courts. The KP Government has chalked out comprehensive programmes in connection with the day to give a strong message to terrorists that the whole nation stands united to wipe them out from the country. An appreciation note was included in the resolution that pursuant of the atrocious attack, military action against terrorists launched by Pakistan’s diehard armed forces proven to be successful.

The chief ministers of all four provinces were called to the stage one by one to distribute special medals and honourary degrees among the heirs of APS attack martyrs.

“I dedicate this award to the people of Pakistan, specially the young girls and women of my country”, she said at an impressive ceremony at New York’s Civic Centre. “I am not ready to say we are now irreversibly on track to fighting, beating and marginalising terrorists”.

The Government is also considering to change the name of the 120 schools that sit in the capital Islamabad, after the victims of the massacre. Last week, the army said 3,400 militants have been killed in the operation.