The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday accepted a writ petition seeking judicial inquiry into the Dec 2014 Army Public School (APS) attack submitted by parents of APS victims.
The writ petition was filed by APS Shuhada Forum President Advocate Ajoon Khan on behalf of the victims’ parents.
“We moved to the court for justice, the parents want justice,” Khan said. His son, Asfand Khan was one of those killed in the horrific Taliban attack on the school.
The Khyber Pakthunkhwa government, the provincial home secretary, the additional chief secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the Inspector General and the federation of Pakistan through the interior secretary are respondents in the petition.
The petitioner maintains that prior to the attack, there was a security threat which the school management did not share with parents, which he states went against the fundamental rights of parents and students.
APS victims’ mothers had filed another writ petition in the PHC on International Women’s Day requesting a judicial inquiry into the APS attack.
Militants wearing suicide-bomb vests stormed the army-run school in Peshawar on Dec 16, 2014, killing at least 144 people ─ most of whom were children. The attack was claimed by the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) Geedar group.
The group also claimed the deadly attack on Charsadda’s Bacha Khan University (BKU) earlier this year, in which at least 21 people were killed.