SC Orders Govt To Make APS Commission Report Public

The Supreme Court has ordered the federal government to make public the report of the judicial commission that was tasked to probe the attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar, in 2016.

During the hearing of the case on Friday, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said that the report must be made public so that those in 'power' are held accountable.

"Prosecution should start with the 'people in power' and strict action should be taken by the government against those responsible to ensure such a tragedy is not repeated in the future," Express Tribune reported.

“Even with such security the people are not safe,” the CJP was quoted as saying.

The parents of the children who were killed in the attack also attended the hearing. They requested the court to ensure that such a tragedy doesn't occur again by fixing the responsibility in the case.

“This incident was not terrorism but targeted killing,” the parents said, adding the children were gathered in a hall according to a plan."

They said the only way to prevent such security lapses in the future is to hold the 'people in power' accountable so that it becomes a lesson for everyone. Justice Faisal Arab assured parents that a case would be made against those responsible for security negligence.

In July, social media users urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to make the Army Public School (APS) massacre report public. According to Twitter users, the people whose slackness led to such a horrific incident must be held accountable publically.

They said if the joint investigation reports on Baldia Town factory fire and Lyari gang war kingpin Uzair Baloch could be made public then this report, which is more ‘important’ than the Uzair Baloch report, should be made public as well.

On July 10, the commission formed to probe the 2014 APS attack submitted its report to the top court. At least 140 people mostly children were killed in the attack. TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack.

A spokesman for the commission Imranullah Khan told reporters that the report comprised around 3,000 pages and carried statements of different people and important documents. According to the spokesperson, the commission recorded the statements of over 132 people, including Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Hidayatur Rehman, the then chairman of Army Public Educational Institutions board of governors Brigadier Mudassir Azam, Brigadier Inayatullah of 102 Brigade, HQ-11 Corps, Major Doctor Asim Shehzad of the Army Medical Corps, and secretary of the BoG Colonel Hazrat Bilal.

The commission also recorded statements of some high-ranking police officials, including former provincial police officers Salahuddin Mehsud and Nasir Durrani, then DIG of the Counter-Terrorism Department Mohammad Alam Shinwari, then home secretary Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, then-capital city police officer Ijaz Khan, then SP (Cantonment) Faisal Shehzad and then SP (City) Mustafa Tanveer, and others.