Mein anay wala kal hoon, woh mujhe kyun aaj maray ga?
Ye us ka weham ho ga ke woh aisay khwaab maray ga
Islamabad, 16th December, 2016: Today marks the two year anniversary of the Army Public School (APS) tragedy which took the lives of more than 140 innocent people mostly school children. The event which shook humanity to its core is still as fresh in our hearts and minds as it was on the day this tragedy occurred. Much has been said and written about the APS incident till-date but the question of the hour is that what is the progress achieved in the aftermath of this horrific event to further prevent such tragedies from occurring in future?
Unfortunately, today we stand divided as ever. The blood which should have united us and strengthened our resolve against menace of violent extremism and terrorism is used as a tool to score political points. The infamous National Action Plan (NAP) after generating much hype at the time of its initiation has only achieved limited success and has been unable to convert policy into action. Although, it should be noted that today the security situation in Pakistan has improved many fold as a result of the ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb. Our valiant armed forces and law enforcement agencies have garnered innumerable sacrifices to defeat the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism. However, the political will needs to much up to the sacrifices especially in the country’s biggest province of Punjab.
Today and forever, we are indebted to the innocent souls who were robbed of their precious lives. 16th December is a bleeding wound in the heart of our nation but we will never forget. We will hold onto the struggle to fight against these elements till our last breath. We cannot bring back those lives back but we can do is to ensure that our future is secure and in order to do that we must put our great national interests before any anything else.
Senator Sehar Kamran (TI)
President Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studes (CPGS)
Same version of the article appeared in Daily Times
Same version of the article appeared in Pakistan Point
Same version of the article appeared in The Frontier Post.
Same version of the article appeared in Daily Qudrat