ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR - Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Thursday reached out to the Afghan leaders and the US Commander in Afghanistan General John Campbell for action against the perpetrators of Charsadda massacre as the law enforcement agencies arrested four facilitators of the attackers.
Army chief made separate telephone calls to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Commander Resolute Special Mission in Afghanistan General John Campbell and shared with them details of the attack controlled from a location in Afghanistan through Afghan mobile phone by a TTP operative.
ISPR Director General Lt-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa in a tweet message said the army chief asked for their cooperation in locating and targeting those responsible for this heinous act and bringing them to justice.
The mastermind of the APS Peshawar attack, Umar Mansoor, of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Geedar group had claimed the attack through a post on his Facebook page, adding, that four attackers were sent to the university.
Mansoor is the faction’s commander specifically in Charsadda, Darra Adam Khel, Nowshera and surrounding areas.
He had been very close to Hakimullah Mehsud’s inner circle and was also close to Umar Khalid Khorasani at one time.
He shifted to Afghanistan after Pakistan Army launched Zarb-e-Azb operation in 2014. His real name is Umar Mansoor and is also claimed by TTP to be the mastermind of 2014’s massacre of 132 children and nine staff at a military-run school in Peshawar - the deadliest militant attack in Pakistan’s history.
Mansoor is close to Mullah Fazlullah, the embattled leader of the TTP who ordered assassins to kill schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai.
Leading political observers and analysts commending the efforts of General Raheel Sharif in war against terror urged the Afghan authorities to take swift action against those TTP fighters hiding in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan.
“This is a real test for Afghan leadership now to show its sincerity in counter terrorism as well as deepening its cooperation with Pakistan”, said a European diplomat in Islamabad requesting anonymity.
In a related development, law enforcement agencies apprehended four facilitators allegedly involved in the terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University.
The four suspects were arrested from Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda district during an operation carried out by the agencies in the area. The attackers, who were four in number and killed in a counter-operation by security forces – are believed to have spent a night in Shabqadar with the four men before they launched the deadly assault on the varsity.
According to initial reports, arrested suspects were shifted to unknown place for further investigation.
Meanwhile, families buried the last of 21 people killed by gunmen at Bacha Khan University, with security tight as relatives questioned how the attack happened despite a national crackdown on extremism.
The country also held a day of mourning for those who died at the university, with residents and officials visiting the homes of victims’ relatives to pay their respects in Charsadda and villages nearby.
At the home of chemistry teacher Dr Hamid Khan, his brother Sajjad Hussain told AFP that the man hailed as a hero had been ‘soft’.
“He could not stand the sight of blood,” he said. “As a child he would faint whenever he saw blood.”
Around 1,000 people in a nearby village attended the funeral of a university caretaker. “I want to tell the terrorists, they can never win, they will lose, we will win, we the followers of peace and not terrorism,” Shah Hussain, father of the caretaker Fakhr-e-Alam, told AFP.
The caretaker’s son, ten-year-old Mustafa Kamal, told AFP his father had always told him he must study hard. “I will study hard,” he vowed, “join the army to defend my land and revenge the death of my father by terrorists.”
One of the wounded students, a geology major, died overnight and his funeral was also held Thursday. The majority of the dead were buried swiftly on Wednesday.
Police remained at the gates of the university Thursday evening, which saw a stream of visits from local politicians and leaders throughout the day.
Authorities arrested 50 suspects from the area surrounding the university, the district police chief told AFP, as the military spokesman said on Twitter the attack had been masterminded by a TTP operative from Afghanistan.
Defiant authorities kept schools open in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday - the area where the university is located.
“Militants want them shut down,” KP Education Minister Arif Khan told AFP. “We wanted to send the message that education will continue.” Only Bacha Khan University and its sister university Abdul Wali Khan in Mardan were closed, he said.