In the memory of APS Attack

Nimrah Javed
Terrorist attack on Army public School, Peshawar the city of flowers, Pakistan killed more than hundred children and it was one of the highest death tolls of children in a single attack of the terrorist in the history of Pakistan. The attack was recognized the national and international attention and every single person felt the pain of the parents who lost their dear ones. Terrorists were affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the purpose of such attack was to create fear among the rising generation of the country. Pakistan has been a target of terrorism and today marks the 8th anniversary of the deadliest attack that changed the perception of all the minds from common man to the decision and policy makers in order to counter such attacks and special kind of security measures were adopted by almost all the schools. As it is a well-known fact that every action has a reaction and post-traumatic stress disorder among the children was the reaction of that attack. Later on, number of government and non-government organizations started a chain for the counseling and therapeutic sessions. TTP claimed the responsibility of the APS attack. Muhammad Umar Khorasani, a TTP’s spokesperson in a statement said that we chose the school as our target because the government was targeting our families and we wanted them to fell our pain in the same way. Pakistan and its citizens paid a huge cost in its fight against terrorism by sacrificing more than any other country. It is a high time for the governing authorities to take special initiatives to counter the terrorism as we are facing the nontraditional threats and in order to prosper the state comprehensive security approach should be used. The impact of terrorism has deteriorated the economic growth in country and it has reduced the foreign direct investment. National Action Plan was setup by the government to stem the terrorism and extremism. The recent terror attacks that took place after TTP ended the ceasefire agreement raise questions on the security calculus adopted by the state in National Action Plan. Why they are not working efficiently to deter those attacks beforehand.