Daily Times

As many as five terrorists involved in Army Public School (APS) Peshawar massacre were hanged by the military courts in 2015 and 2017 respectively while an appeal against the death sentence awarded to the sixth terrorist is pending in the apex court since August 2016.

According to the data available to APP, the terrorists and criminals involved in the Army Public School and College incident were tried in a military court which sentenced six terrorists to death. Those terrorists who were hanged on December 2, 2015 included Hazrat Ali, Abdul Salam, Sabeel and Mujeeb, while terrorist Rizwan was hanged on May 24, 2017. The appeal against the death sentence of terrorist Atiq is pending in the Supreme Court since August 2016.

According to details, an amount of Rs 1544.606 million had also been paid to the families of the martyrs and the injured in APS attack. The federal government, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, Punjab government, Pakistan Army and XI Corps headquarters provided financial assistance to the martyrs and injured in the tragedy.

The heirs of the martyrs were given an amount of Rs. 277.8 million and the injured Rs. 3.675 million (total Rs 281.475) by the federal government. Similarly, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government gave Rs. 286 million to the heirs of martyrs and Rs. 123.8 million to the injured (total Rs. 409.8 million). The Punjab government gave Rs 6.57 million to the heirs of martyrs, Rs 55.08 million to the wounded (total Rs 61.65 million), Rs 575.755 million to the heirs of martyrs and Rs 153.575 million were paid to the injured by the Pakistan Army and total Rs 729.33 million was paid. The XI Corps Headquarters paid Rs. 61.152 million to the heirs of the martyrs and Rs. 1.199 million to the injured.

Thus, a total of Rs. 1207.277 million was paid to the heirs of the martyrs and Rs 337.329 million to the injured. In addition, three members of each family affected by the APS tragedy were given Umrah packages and plots in DHA. The families can also avail free medical treatment at Combined Military Hospitals and can also go abroad for treatment. Furthermore, one sibling of the martyred children is being provided free education at the Army Public School.

The government awarded Sitar-e-Jurat and Tamgha-e-Shujat to martyred principal Tahira Qazi.

The Pakistan Army was appreciated and no blame was affixed on it by the highest inquiry commission formed in the aftermath of the tragic incident that left more than 145 martyred, most of them school students.

Soon after the attack, a national consensus was achieved and the National Action Plan (NAP) was drafted to curb the rampant spread of terrorism in the country. The military, in successive campaigns, wrestled back control of areas in erstwhile FATA, which had become a hotbed of militant activity.

The army also took disciplinary action against those individuals, who did not come up to the warranted necessary measures, including dismissal from service.

The judicial commission concluded on June 30, 2020, that terrorism perpetrated by the enemies of Pakistan reached its peak in 2013-2014. The report stated that assistance provided to terrorists by the school’s locality is unpardonable. It said while this complicity of the local population compromised the efforts of the security apparatus – made within the available resources – it also augmented and intensified the accomplishment rate of the enemy’s nefarious plan on the other. It said no agency could outperform the impact of any attack effortlessly “when infidels are within”.

The commission had said that National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) had issued a generic threat alert about terrorists seeking to target army families and academic institutions as a result of Zarb-e-Azb and Khyber-1 operations. The commission also lauded Pakistan Army for both uprooting the terrorism from the country post-APS incident and extending unflinching support to the families.