HRCP calls for appropriate response to children’s massacre

Lahore: A prompt and thorough probe into the children’s massacre in Peshawar should name all actors who facilitated the terrorists, directly or indirectly, to kill the nation’s future generation, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said on Thursday.

The Commission said in a statement: “HRCP urges the government that response to the horrific blood-letting in Peshawar must not be merely reactive or emotional but should be well thought out.

“This is no time to be playing to the gallery or diverting public opinion through sop. HRCP believes that tinkering with the informal moratorium on executions offers no solution to the challenge that Pakistan faces. The flaws in investigation and the overall criminal justice system need immediate attention to ensure certainty of just punishment and not merely quantum of it. It is also imperative that impunity is no longer be given to any individual or group that indulges in militancy or hate speech. This should include decisive action against the so-called banned extremist militant groups.

“HRCP demands that details of all aspects of the incident that culminated in the tragic targeting of children in Peshawar must be shared with the people. This is far too catastrophic a tragedy for the information to be made available only through the news media.

“The people demand and desperately hope that a prompt and thorough probe into this worst terrorist attack to befall the nation would name all actors who facilitated the terrorists, directly or indirectly, to kill the nation’s future generation. It should also identify the reasons for the intelligence apparatus failure to forestall the massacre. The investigation should look at all links in the support chain for the terrorists, not merely those in Afghanistan.

“It is vital to acknowledge that our mercilessly butchered children and their parents paid in no small part for the consistently flawed orientation of the state and for pandering to streaks of intolerance promoted in the name of belief. It is now critical that a complete shift takes place from the past, all stakeholders come on the same page and end this constant blood-letting through a cohesive counter-terrorism policy. It is hoped that the latest vows of ending the traditional view of good and bad Taliban would be honoured.

“It should be clear for all to see that showing respect and concessions to terrorists and terrorism only encourages more terrorism. There has been no sign of repentance for the complicity of those hobnobbing with the terrorists or of their eager apologists. A nation in mourning demands that the political parties who refuse to sever ties with these cold-blooded killers or hasten to their defence should have no title to representing anybody.

“There is a consensus that the terrorism that afflicts Pakistan and Afghanistan has a regional dimension. If the two countries pull together to deny safe havens to Taliban and other terrorists they would stand a much better chance of exterminating this grave menace to humanity.

“The people have been forced to ask what kind of a state we are that a handful of people come and kill our future generations in this barbaric manner. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that if we fail to act in an appropriate manner even in these grave circumstances it would be difficult to retain Pakistan’s name among civilised nations.”