APS attack case: Imran Khan appears in Supreme Court, gives government four weeks to determine culprits
Pakistan's Supreme Court has given the government four weeks to act on the report of the commission of inquiry into the attack on the Army Public School and determine those responsible.
The court clarified that the government report to be submitted to the Supreme Court in four weeks should have the signature of the Prime Minister.
''A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed is hearing the suo motu notice on Army Public School in the Supreme Court and the court had also summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan in person in this regard on Wednesday''.
''There is no sacred cow and action will be taken against any individual on the order of the court''. Appearing in the court, Prime Minister Imran Khan said.
More than 150 people, including 144 children, were killed in the attack on December 16, 2014.''The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack''.
A judicial commission set up to investigate the militant attack on the Army Public School had in its report termed the incident a "security failure" and said it had affected the country's security system. The question is marked.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the court asked the prime minister what action he had taken on the commission's report, to which the prime minister replied that it was not our government at that time, it was our provincial government which could only compensate the survivors. That Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gave.
The court expressed anger over this and said that he was sprinkling salt on the wounds of his family members.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice remarked that the commission report which has been submitted mentions only lower level people and not the names of senior people.
The court told the prime minister that now you are the chief executive of the country and who has stopped you from taking steps related to national security? To which the Prime Minister said, "We have no sacred cow. If the court orders, we can take action or file a case against anyone. "
The prime minister said he had been told by the attorney general about the report, which stated that most of the issues in the report were morally responsible.
Justice Qazi Amin remarked that according to media reports, he was going to hold talks with the TTP. "Aren't we going to negotiate with those who martyred these children and sign another document of defeat?" He asked.
Qazi Amin remarked that he had also made an agreement with the TLP and those who 'martyred' nine policemen during the protests, so are the lives of these policemen less valuable than ours.
To this Imran Khan replied that this issue has to be seen in the context of Afghanistan. He said that the court should also issue orders regarding the 80,000 people who were killed in this war.
After the hearing, Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry while talking to the media outside the Supreme Court said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had complied with the order of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court had said that those who have moral responsibility should be identified. It will be done in weeks and the government will take this matter further.
Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on the occasion said that the Prime Minister had put all the situation before the bench and assured that those responsible for this matter would be identified, even if it was the Interior Ministry.
Sheikh Rasheed said that the court has given four weeks time, the Prime Minister has presented the whole situation and has assured that whether it includes the Home Minister, the people of higher agencies, whoever is responsible, the Constitution Action will be taken.
Why was the Prime Minister ordered to appear?
During the hearing of the suo motu notice case on Wednesday morning, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Gulzar Ahmed summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan in person and remarked that these matters would not go on like this and those responsible would have to be identified.
When the hearing of the case began, the Chief Justice asked Attorney General Khalid Javed whether he had informed the Prime Minister about the instructions given during the previous hearings of the Supreme Court, to which the Attorney General replied in the negative and He said that he would take instructions from the Prime Minister in this regard and inform the court.
It should be noted that during the last hearing, the parents of the children killed in this tragedy in 2014, besides Pakistan's Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, DG ISI Lieutenant General Zaheer-ul-Islam, the then Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Corps. Commander Peshawar Hidayat-ur-Rehman and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had sought registration of the case.
During the hearing, the court inquired from the Attorney General that the Prime Minister has been informed about the petition of the heirs of these children, to which the Attorney General said that he (Prime Minister) has not been consulted in this regard yet.
He said that there was no role of these persons in the report of this incident and nothing was said about them.
The Attorney General said that we admit all our mistakes but no FIR can be registered against the higher authorities.
The Chief Justice remarked that action was taken against the watchmen and soldiers in this tragedy whereas in fact the action should have started from above.
He said that the upper castes were carrying salaries and benefits while the lower castes were facing lawsuits.
Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, who was present in the bench, remarked that it was not possible that the militants did not get support from within. He said that the incident of APS was a failure of security.
Justice Qazi Amin, who was present in the bench, said without naming the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that there were reports that the state was in talks with a group. He questioned whether it was not the job of the state to reach out to the real culprits and apprehend them.
The Chief Justice remarked that when it comes to the safety of his people and where the country's intelligence agencies go.
There is a break in the hearing of this self notice. According to local media reports, the Attorney General has gone to the Prime Minister's house, which is a short distance from the Supreme Court, with a court order.
APS Commission Report
It may be recalled that some time ago, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered the release of the report of a judicial commission set up six years ago to probe the militant attack on Army Public School in Peshawar.
''The commission was set up under the chairmanship of Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Khan of the Peshawar High Court and sent a more than 500-page report on the Army Public School tragedy to the Chief Justice of Pakistan in July 2020''.
The commission recorded the statements of 132 people, including injured children and parents of those killed in the incident, including 101 civilians and 31 security personnel and officers.
According to the Pakistan Army Public Relations Department, the group that attacked the Army Public School consisted of 27 members, nine of whom were killed and 12 were arrested.
Pakistani authorities have convicted several people involved in the incident in military courts, but the parents of the slain children have maintained that their children went to an army-run school in a cantonment. He was not on the battlefield and he regularly paid school fees for the protection of his children.