Remembering APS attack 2014 – and Pakistan’s continued struggle against terrorism

Islamabad, Dec 16 (IANS) The morning of December 16, 2014, is etched in Pakistan’s history as one of the goriest and gloomiest. A terrorist attack on Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar butchered about 150 students and teachers. While the incident became a breaking point for Pakistan, families of students and teachers, and people at large still ask questions to the leaders of the time. But justice has been elusive.

December 16, 2024, marks a decade after the traumatising and shocking memories of the APS attack. The incident not only shook the whole of Pakistan but also left everyone in the world shell-shocked. Unfortunately, even today, the questions and demands for justice outnumber actions taken to put an end to the menace of terrorism from the country.

After the APS attack, Pakistan decided to end the segregation of good and bad Taliban and announced a clear all-out policy to crush terrorist groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – the militant group that claimed responsibility of the attack – and other groups through a National Action Plan (NAP). But, ten years after the incident and the introduction of NAP, a pertinent question remains – where do we stand?

Pakistan, today, is mourning in remembrance of the victims of the APS attack. All educational institutions nationwide have been closed while rallies and special prayers are to be held to observe the occasion. But the primary question continues to haunt the country as even after a decade, Pakistan is still struggling to root out terror from its soil as attacks continue to claim lives in the country every day.

“These terrorist groups enjoyed a renewed boost since 2021, when Afghan Taliban took over neighbouring Afghanistan. Since then, TTP and its affiliate groups have enjoyed extended support in every possible way to carry out their attacks in Pakistan,” said strategic analyst Kamran Yousaf.

“Even though civilian casualties and attacks have come down, TTP and other of its affiliates have certainly been able to penetrate into Pakistan and have carried out multiple attacks on police and security forces. TTP poses a direct threat to Pakistan’s security as it tries to become the arm of Al-Qaeda in the region,” Kamran Yousaf added.

While Pakistan government claims that the Afghan Taliban are arming, facilitating, harbouring and supporting TTP and its ongoing terrorist attacks, it is also a fact that the country has fallen short and has failed to root out TTP footprints from its territory. The fact also remains that other extremist groups which operate under the umbrella of sectarianism and target other sects with violence, also continue to function openly.

“Terrorism should not have a selective identification. Be it the TTP, Al-Qaeda, ISKP or other groups spreading sectarian violence, arming sectarian groups to kill others, or using the excuse of blasphemy to extend their anti-state agendas – unless all of these groups are neutralised, the battle will be impossible to win,” said Azaz Syed, senior analyst.

Today, as the country remembers the massacre in APS in 2014; family members of the departed children and teachers are still carrying demands and questions to the state, calling for the implementation of NAP without delay and providing justice to the families of those who fell victim to the brutality.

“The state must fully commit itself to end the menace of terrorism. Sadly, the state seems more focused on indulging itself in politics, manoeuvring and dictating the political parties and their opposition, leaving counterterrorism far down in the list of priorities,” said senior political analyst Javed Siddique.

“If we do not want to see repeats of the tragic APS attack in the present and the future; the attitude of the state will have to change,” he concluded.

–IANS

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