ISLAMABAD - Seven years ago on December 16, the terrorists attacked Army Public School (APS) Peshawar in one of the highly brutal terrorist activity, which targeted innocent children and teachers.

The attack was aimed to damage Pakistan’s Armed Forces’ sacrifices and successes in the war on terror operations. The attack was planned and executed by Indian RAW and Afghan NDS to break the Pakistani nation’s resolve against terrorism. Contrary to this, Pakistan Army and the nation emerged as more strong and resilient in its commitment to eliminate the menace of terrorism from its soil.

The APS attack was a great national tragedy; the losses of the parents and kins of martyrs is irreparable but the whole nation stood with the affected and Pakistan never lost sight of its national resolve to wipe out foreign-sponsored terrorism to prevent and guard against such heinous crime against its citizen. Pakistan Army and government extended all possible assistance to the affected families to contribute in sharing their unbearable loss.

Seven heavily armed TTP fighters assaulted the Army-run secondary school in Peshawar on 16th December 2014. During the attack, 134 students within the age bracket of 12–18 years were brutally martyred. The martyred also included a few teachers, the principal of the school. It was a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) executed attack but planned and financed by Indian Intelligence Agency, RAW and Afghan Intelligence, NDS.

The world is experiencing global spread of terrorism and Pakistan had been one of the worst affected country. Major cities of Pakistan were affected due to terrorism but Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and home to a majority of Afghan refugees, witnessed some of the very brutal attacks. Pakistani citizens have faced huge losses in terms of lives and material due to foreign assisted/ funded terrorists’ activities executed through political, secessionist, sectarian, ethnic and religious fundamentalists sponsored by hostile states.

Terrorist attacks staged in Pakistan have killed over 80,000 people and inflicted massive damage to the Pakistani economy totalling greater than $67 billion. Pakistan has issued a number of dossiers exposing Indian sponsored terrorism in Pakistan which include very specific information such as bank accounts and Indian nationals involved. It also included the number and places of training camps for TTP, Baloch anarchist and other groups. It was also revealed that Indian intelligence (RAW) spent $1 million for the merger of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) with four other militant groups for terrorism in Pakistan. India has also been funnelling money to Baloch anarchists through think tanks in Afghanistan and other means. Indian RAW had also invested heavily to disrupt the progress of CPEC by attacking its projects through different groups. 

The mastermind of the APS attack was Mullah Fazal Ullah who was killed, other collaborators were Gul Zaman Orakzai, Omar Narai (Killed) and Muhammad Khurassani (Afghan Custody), they were in touch with RAW and NDS handlers in Afghanistan. The attack is considered Pakistan’s 9/11. After this incident, the Pak Army decided to launch major operations against terrorists and eliminate them.

Unfortunately, the great tragedy is being used by anti-Pakistan forces for self-serving purposes, negative propaganda targeting armed forces and other institutions. Pakistan Army and government had extended all possible assistance for the affected families and all major culprits; part of the terrorist attack had already been brought to justice.