My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now
Tahir Ali
Father of Abdullah, 14, who was killed in the school
| Wednesday , December 17 , 2014 |
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Tahir Ali
Father of Abdullah, 14, who was killed in the school
| Wednesday , December 17 , 2014 |
India stands by Pak, minus the usual sting | ||
| CHARU SUDAN KASTURI | ||
New Delhi, Dec. 16: A telephone call, a cancelled dinner, multiple messages of condolences and a trademark jibe missing — the slaughter of schoolchildren today in an army school in Peshawar by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan fidayeen brought a departure from convention. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and the foreign office condemned the attacks and offered sympathies without lacing their statements with a sting that has marked most past responses to terror strikes in Pakistan. Modi telephoned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif late this evening to offer condolences. In his conversation with Sharif, Modi described the assault as “not only an attack against Pakistan, but an assault against the entire humanity”. “It is a senseless act of unspeakable brutality that has claimed lives of the most innocent of human beings — young children in their school,” Modi tweeted earlier in the day, as Pakistan’s armed forces were battling seven terrorists inside the Peshawar school. “My heart goes out to everyone who lost their loved ones today. We share their pain and offer our deepest condolences.” India’s foreign office — very often the Prime Minister too — routinely condemn terror attacks abroad, including in Pakistan, offer commiserations, and at times, even intelligence support or resources. But India’s official responses to terror acts in Pakistan are often also an opportunity for New Delhi to send a message to Islamabad, and key nations across the world. New Delhi, on these occasions, reminds them that the very tool of extremist terrorism, reared by Pakistan as a strategic tool against India, bites back at Islamabad. A statement issued by the foreign office just a month back, after the terror attacks in Wagah in Pakistan bore that stamp. “We believe that the firmest and most comprehensive action against all terror groups without any distinction is the only way to defeat this evil scourge,” the ministry of external affairs statement on November 3 had said, after condemning the attacks. India has long argued for a United Nations Comprehensive Convention against Terrorism that bars nations from distinguishing between terrorists based on their strategic goals, and punishes countries that support any terror group. Pakistan and several other Islamic states are demanding that the convention draw a distinction between terrorists and “freedom fighters” — a term they use to describe militants in Kashmir. Today, the foreign office, too, skipped any reference to its traditional allegations against Pakistan. “No words will capture the feeling of deep revulsion and horror we feel about this terror attack against innocent children,” foreign office spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said. The foreign minister had invited several parliamentarians home for dinner, but at 6pm, changed her mind. “In view of the massacre of innocent children in Pakistan, tonight’s dinner hosted by me for Members of Parliament is hereby cancelled,” Sushma tweeted. Cong tempers stand The Congress appealed to the global community to join hands in crushing exporters of terrorism in Pakistan. But Sonia Gandhi and Rahul issued much sober statements. Although the party’s official statement by spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said “we are with the Pakistani government in this hour of crisis”, it focused on dismantling of terror hubs and asked Islamabad to understand “terrorists were nobody’s friend and enemy of the society”. He also reminded Pakistan of the need to act against Masood Azhar, Haifiz Sayeed, and Dawood Ibrahim. Rahul, however, said: “Deeply shocked at the barbaric killing of schoolchildren by terrorists in Peshawar…. We stand united with the people of Pakistan in their resolve to fight the menace of terrorism.” Congress president Sonia said: “Strongly condemn the dastardly killing of innocent schoolchildren…. This barbaric act has caused universal outrage and painfully underscores the threat posed by organised terrorist groups to humankind.” | ||
| ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SANJAY K. JHA |
School motto: Rise & Shine | ||
| OUR BUREAU | ||
Dec. 16: The Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar is part of a nationwide network of elite institutions run under the auspices of the Pakistan Army. The titular head of such Army Public Schools is the Pakistani chief of army staff (COAS), and they are usually located within cantonment limits. Students of the institution go with the common motto: “I shall Rise and Shine.” There are 146 such schools all across Pakistan, all of them administered by a central body called the Army Public Schools and Colleges Systems Secretariat (APSCSS). The essential mandate of the APSCSS is to ensure smooth administration and maintenance of quality standards across the country. Although their affairs are overseen by the Pakistan Army — and preference is given to children of those that serve in the armed forces — admission to such schools is, at least on paper, open to all. But they are different from privately-run public schools, of which, too, there are several in Pakistan. “The army schools are really elite schools where the children of the affluent and the influential go. It is considered a thing of privilege to be able to send your child to one of these schools if you are not in the armed forces,” a senior Islamabad-based journalist told The Telegraph over phone. “For a lot of students that come from armed forces background, such schools also serve as training grounds, or platforms, to get into the defence services at a later stage,” the journalist added. |
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The face of a student who was killed in the attack in Peshawar is seen through the coffin?s lid. (Reuters)
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HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME, HUMANS | ||
| NASIR JAFFRY AND REUTERS | ||
Islamabad, Dec. 16: Pakistan was tonight preparing to bury the flower of a generation: 132 children killed in a Peshawar school in a terror attack whose savagery appeared unparalleled because of the abrupt and cold-blooded manner in which it was executed. Altogether 148 people — 132 children, nine employees and seven terrorists — had been killed by the time the eight-hour siege of the Army Public School and Graduate College ended in the evening. Officials said 121 pupils and three staff members were wounded. A local hospital said the dead and injured were aged between 10 and 20. The Taliban gunmen broke into the school just when the world was recovering from the “lone-wolf” stand-off in Sydney 24 hours ago. The terrorists made no demands and started killing children as soon as they entered the building, the chief military spokesperson said. “They didn’t take any hostages initially and started firing in the hall,” said Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa. But the militants had brought rations for several days, he said, implying that they may have intended to take students hostage. It is not clear whether and why the plans were changed. Pakistanis, used to almost daily militant attacks, were shocked by the scale of the massacre and the loss of so many young lives. The massacre recalled the 2004 siege of a school in Russia’s Beslan by Chechen militants that ended in the death of more than 330 people, half of them children. In Beslan, the children were taken hostage and the crisis had spilled over to three days and some questions remain unanswered on what triggered the explosions that killed many hostages. In Peshawar, wounded children taken to nearby hospitals told Reuters that most of the victims died when gunmen, suicide vests strapped to their bodies, entered the compound and opened fire indiscriminately on boys, girls and their teachers. The corridors of the city’s Combined Military Hospital were lined with dead students, their green-and-yellow school uniform ties peeping out of the white body bags. The Pakistan Taliban, waging war in order to topple the government, immediately claimed responsibility. “We selected the army’s school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females,” said Taliban spokesperson Muhammad Umar Khorasani. “We want them to feel the pain.” The Pakistani Taliban had vowed to step up attacks in response to a major army operation against the insurgents in the tribal areas in June. So far, the Taliban have targeted mainly security forces, military bases and airports. Attacks on civilian targets with no logistical significance are relatively rare, though many children were killed in an attack on a church, also in Peshawar, last year. Despite the crackdown this year, the military has long been accused of being too lenient towards militants who critics say are used to carry out its bidding in places such as Kashmir and Afghanistan. Some witnesses said the gunmen addressed each other in a language they could only recognise as either Arabic or Farsi — a possible testament to the Taliban’s network of hundreds of foreign fighters holed up with them in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The terrorists managed to slip past the school’s tight security because at least some of them were wearing Pakistani military uniforms, the witnesses said. Around 960 pupils and staff members were evacuated from the school attended by over 1,100 people, many of them children of army personnel. The attack struck at the heart of Pakistan’s military establishment and could push the armed forces into a more drastic response. “These terrorists have struck the heart of the nation. But our resolve to tackle this menace has gotten a new lease of life. We will pursue these monsters and their facilitators until they are eliminated for good,” army chief Raheel Sharif said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif used similarly strong words. “We will take revenge for each and every drop of our children’s blood that was spilt today,” he said. Bajwa, the military spokesperson, suggested Afghanistan, from where Pakistan Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah is said to be operating, would no longer be a safe haven. “We will chase even sympathisers, facilitators and abettors of these militants,” the officer said. The Afghan Taliban, separate from the Pakistan Taliban, condemned the attack as “against the basics of Islam”. India gesture New Delhi responded with sensitivity, going beyond the usual platitudes. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Nawaz Sharif, expressed condolences and told him that India was “ready to provide all assistance during this hour of grief”. Modi appealed to students in all schools in India to observe silence for two minutes on Wednesday as a mark of solidarity. |
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