PESHAWAR: The 11th anniversary of the deadly attack on Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar is being observed across the country today (Tuesday). The attack claimed the lives of more than 140 people, including 134 schoolchildren.
On December 16, 2014, six terrorists affiliated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stormed the APS campus in Peshawar, martyring 147 students and teachers. The massacre remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Pakistan’s history.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the government declared an all-out war against terrorist outfits. Amendments were made to the Constitution and the Army Act, leading to the establishment of military courts to ensure swift trials of terrorists.
According to the Pakistan Army, all six militants involved in the APS attack were later executed, while military courts set up after the incident awarded death sentences to 310 militants. The mastermind of the massacre, Umar Mansour — also known as Khalifa Mansour and later as Umar Narai — was killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan.
Eleven years on, despite the formulation of the National Action Plan (NAP) shortly after the APS tragedy and the adoption of other counter-terrorism strategies, parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remain vulnerable to militant attacks.
The massacre fundamentally changed Pakistan’s national outlook on terrorism, with widespread public calls for uniform and indiscriminate action against all forms of militancy. Following the attack, political parties and security institutions jointly developed the National Action Plan to curb extremism and terrorism. Subsequently, Parliament unanimously approved the establishment of military courts for the speedy trial of hardened terrorists.
It is pertinent to recall that the terrorists launched their assault in the mid-morning hours of December 16, 2014, after scaling a wall to enter the school premises. At the time, more than 1,000 students and staff members were present at the school, many of them children of military personnel.
The attackers detonated their vehicle to divert the attention of school guards before entering the main assembly hall, where students were attending a first-aid lesson, and opened indiscriminate fire. They later moved through classrooms, targeting teachers and senior students.
Even after more than a decade, the parents of the martyred children, particularly mothers, continue to grieve, with tears and sobs accompanying their calls for justice. They are demanding transparent and independent investigations into the incident and urging the government to identify and punish those responsible for security lapses that led to the tragic loss of innocent lives.
