APS carnage

Judicial Commission records statements of martyred students’ parents

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: The Judicial Commission on Monday started recording statements of the parents of the martyred students of the Army Public School (APS), Peshawar.

The commission headed by Justice Ibrahim Khan recorded statements of three parents in his chamber. Advocate Ajoon Khan and his wife Shahana, whose son Asfand Khan was martyred in the APS carnage, recorded their statements before the commission.

Ahmad Ali, the father of the martyred Muhammad Uzair Ali, a class 8th student, also recorded its statement. The focal person for the Judicial Commission, Muhammad Imran, said that around 90 people, including parents, students and others, have got registered with the commission.

In the first day, four persons were called by the commission. However, the fourth person Fazal Advocate requested the commission that he would record his statement the other day. Talking to The News, Ajoon Khan said that he also provided a questionnaire having 25 questions to the commission along with evidence.

A total of 147 people, including 132 schoolchildren, were martyred in the gruesome act carried out by six militants affiliated with the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on December 16, 2014.

Prior to the commission’s formation, Ajoon Khan, had also filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court. He had sought orders for the federal and provincial governments to make all the information on the campus carnage public.

In the petition, lawyer Ajoon Khan, father of student Asfand Khan, said consequent to the information of the apparent terrorist attack on the APS, it was the fundamental right of the students and their parents to know about it. He said non-communication of that information amounted to a violation of fundamental rights of the parents, including him.

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on February 8, 2018, had directed the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) to make public the information of the APS carnage inquiry report and steps taken during the investigation.

The court had also asked the spokesperson for the provincial and federal governments in the missing persons’ cases to inform the ministries of Defence and Interior to share the information and steps taken after the APS carnage with the parents of the students martyred in the December 2014 attack.

A two-member bench comprising the then Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah issued the directions to the CTD, which investigated the APS incident. “It is the duty of the execution agency to satisfy the public with the steps taken in such cases. The CTD DIG, after giving a reading to the inquiry report in consultation with Investigation Officer of the case [should] make public the steps taken during investigation and information of the inquiry report,” the order had stated.

On October 19, the Judicial Commission had issued a public notice stating that everyone, particularly the parents of the martyred students, should register themselves with the secretary of the commission in order to produce any evidence and record their statements.

On the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the PHC chief justice ordered the constitution of the commission comprising Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan to probe the 2014 carnage.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on October 5 had ordered the formation of the inquiry commission.The prime grievance of the complainants is that the officers concerned were not made accountable as they did not respond to the threat alert prior to the incident.