‘Ignored’ APS injured students threaten protest

PESHAWAR: The parents of the injured students and the teachers of the Army Public School (APS) on Saturday warned that they would stage protests if their problems were not resolved by December 16. Speaking at a press conference, the parents reiterated their demands and asked the government to take immediate steps to solve their problems.
Flanked by some of the injured students and their parents, Prof Akbar Khan expressed concern over the inordinate delay in getting the students and teachers treated abroad and accused the government of using delaying tactics and ignoring them. He said the injured students should be fully treated and provided quality education. Prof Akbar Khan said the injured students and teachers were leading miserable lives due to financial constraints as the government was least bothered to support them.
“The government should issue special treatment cards to the injured people so that they could be treated in all the hospitals,” he stressed. Highlighting the psychological effects of the terrorist attack on the minds of the young students and teachers, he asked the government to provide free psychological treatment to them. He demanded that the students should be admitted to professional colleges on priority basis as they had suffered physically and mentally and were unable to compete with normal students. “We have time and again asked the government to notify our children as victims of terrorism so that they would not face problems while going abroad for treatment and education, but to no avail,” he lamented. He said if the government was not ready to support the victims, it should at least express its inability to do so openly. He urged the government to pay monthly stipend to the students on regular basis till completion of their education and employment. Prof Akbar Khan said the martyred teachers and non-teaching workers of the APS should be posthumously enlisted as permanent employees with provision of all the retirement benefits and incentives.