APS attack case: SC orders govt to submit report in 4 weeks

The Supreme Court (SC) has given the government four weeks' time to take action against those responsible for the attack on Army Public School (APS) and submit a report, Aaj News reported on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier appeared before the SC after being summoned by the apex court. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed took up the case proceedings.

The bench asked the PM what progress had been made in the case. The PM replied that his party was in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when the attack took place, adding that the same night he had called a meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

He further said that he had also met the injured students as well as the families of the martyred. The PM also informed the bench that a National Action Plan was helmed after the APS massacre.

The SC told him that the families of the martyred wanted compensation from the government, adding that they wanted action against the officials in high-level positions at the time of the attack.

APS Peshawar tragedy: SC asks govt to redress grievances of martyrs’ families

While speaking to the media after the court hearing, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry alongside Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that it was easy for the government to accuse and blame the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz under whose tenure the APS carnage took place.

But, he added, the PM set an example and had appeared before the court.

“The Supreme Court has given the government four weeks to take action against those responsible for the attack on the Army Public School," he shared.

Meanwhile, the interior minister stated that the PM had assured the court that all those responsible will be exposed.

Earlier during the hearing in the morning, the CJP inquired whether the PM had read the court's order. Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan replied that the court's orders were not relayed to the PM, adding that he will brief the premier himself. At this, the CJP had summoned the PM before the court.

APS attack was the result of a massive security failure, claims inquiry report

Last month, the SC had directed the AGP to take steps for redressing the grievances of the APS's martyrs’ families. The families of the APS martyrs had expressed dissatisfaction over the measures taken by the provincial and the federal governments, saying that action was taken only against low-level officials, but no case was registered against top officials.

They requested the bench “to order for the registration of an FIR against the then Army Chief General (retired) Raheel Sharif, DG ISI Lt-Gen (retired) Zaheerul Islam, Corps Commander, Peshawar, Lt-Gen (retired) Hadayatur Rehman, the then Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and the then Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak,” who they claimed are actually responsible for the tragic incident.

“If action is taken against them then such incident could be prevented in the future,” relatives of the martyrs said.

On December 16, 2014, a total of 147 people, 132 of them children, were martyred when TTP militants stormed the APS-Warsak School, in Peshawar.

Recently, the government has engaged in talks with the TTP over a "reconciliation process", with Fawad having announced on Monday that a "complete ceasefire" agreement had been reached with the banned outfit.