APS massacre: State does not have right or authority to pardon killers, says Asif Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Expressing concern over the non-implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP), PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari Thursday said that the state does not have the right to pardon the killers of the innocent students of the Army Public School (APS).

In his message on the seventh anniversary of the APS tragedy, Asif Ali Zardari paid rich tributes to the children who were martyred in the terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in 2014.

“The National Action Plan was a pledge to wipe out terrorists from the country. Unfortunately, the promise made to the nation has not been fulfilled which has resulted in terrorists killing our soldiers even today,” he added.

Despite a span of seven years, those who planned and facilitated the tragedy could not be brought to justice, the PPP leader said, adding , “The state and the nation will remain indebted to the martyrs.”

He said the hearts of not only the families of the martyrs but of every conscientious human being are still bleeding. Zardari said that negotiations with terrorists and killers who are challenging the state amounts to weakening the writ of the state.

He also saluted the security personnel who were rendering supreme sacrifices in the fight against the enemies of the country.

The terrorists and killers of the APS students would not go unpunished, Zardari said and promised the families of the martyrs that if given the opportunity, the ruthless terrorists will be brought to justice and given exemplary punishments. 

A total of 147 people, including 132 schoolchildren were martyred by a group of six armed terrorists in the APS tragedy on December 16, 2014.