IT is an attack that shook Pakistan to the core; a date that will live in infamy.
Three years ago today, the Army Public School terrorist attack in Peshawar claimed 141 lives, including 132 schoolchildren.
There
have been attacks before and since the APS attack that have been
shocking and vile: the Benazir Bhutto assassination, church bombings,
market bombings, mosque bombings, hotel bombings, attacks on airport,
police and security agencies, massacre of Hazaras — all wreaking
terrible havoc and leaving deep scars across the country.
The monstrousness of the APS attack, however, almost defies understanding.
A
very large number of children killed in a school is a country on the
verge of failure that nobody can deny. The attack unleashed a wave of
revulsion and galvanised public opinion against terrorists and
militants. Operation Zarb-i-Azb, launched six months earlier, was
intensified. In an unfortunate spirit of vengeance, the moratorium on
the death penalty was lifted.
A
constitutional amendment to give military courts the power to try
civilian terrorism suspects was forced through parliament. Perhaps most
significantly in the long term, the National Action Plan was drawn up
and unanimously approved by the country’s political leadership. A page
was supposed to have been turned.
Three years later, did
APS truly mark a decisive turn against extremism, militancy and
terrorism? Sadly, the spirit of the victims of APS has not been
honoured.
While Pakistan is generally more stable and
secure than it has been in a number of years, the fight against
extremism envisaged in NAP has gone nowhere. Drawn up hastily after the
APS attack, NAP was more a statement of intent than a detailed guide to
fighting and defeating extremism in the country. But it is important
because it reflects a national consensus and was the first time an
attempt was made to define and systematically confront the threat of
extremism in the country.
Today, while some forms of
militancy and terrorism have been diminished, the extremist threat is
arguably greater than it has ever been.
The failure is
total and collective — civil and military, provincial and federal.
Whether out of fear, incompetence, complicity or a combination of all
three, the state has allowed extremism in society to fester. There will
be no final victory against terrorism in Pakistan unless extremism is
also defeated.
Honour the memory of the children of Army Public School; confront and defeat extremism.
