The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) is to begin hearings into the Army Public School (APS) attack in Peshawar. This is a welcome move. Though it is a travesty that the first step on the road to, if not justice, then closure, has taken four long years.
When the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) did their worst back in December 2014 and stormed a school killing more than 130 pupils — the only consolation was that this would be a watershed moment. And, in many ways, it was. The day that would change everything. At least as far as the civil-military mandate went.
The people of Pakistan were presented with a 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) that had the backing of the entire political leadership across the great divide. Provisions included: a return to capital punishment for those convicted of terrorism; the constitution of special military courts; a crackdown on hate material; the choking financing of terrorists and terror organisations; banning the glorification of the same through print and electronic media; registering and regulating madrassas; and monitoring the misuse of the Internet as well as social media for terror-related activities.
Indeed, this was supposed to rally the people behind a common agenda. And it did. The entire country stood with the families of the murdered schoolchildren — one being as young as six — with the media paying tribute to the victims with heart-wrenching features. But while they received financial compensation, their narrative grew increasingly absent from the national rhetoric. This act of terrorism was framed as an attack on the state and only the state.
Pakistan, of course, has been here before. Most notably when Malala Yousafzai was shot by the TTP in 2012. The then teenager was recast as either the daughter of the nation or else as a western stooge. Her suffering soon became almost incidental. And while a different set of dynamics are at play with regards to the martyrs of the APS tragedy and their relatives — similarities exist in as much as the state has effectively appropriated the latter’s suffering.
By rights, a judicial inquiry should have been part of the NAP. Thus it is hoped that the October 5 hearings will finally serve to redress this glaring oversight. *
Published in Daily Times, September 29th 2018.