Nation mourns, world condemns Taliban attack on Pakistan army school
Thursday, December 18, 2014
.svg)
In the wake of Tuesday's high-school attack by the Pakistani Taliban (TTK) on an army public school, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a three-day period of official mourning. In addition to condemnation from world leaders — who include UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, and Deputy director David Griffiths of Amnesty International — news agency Reuters are reporting the Afghan Taliban have also issued a statement condemning the attack.
The statement carried by Reuters, claiming to be from Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, reads: "The intentional killing of innocent people, children and women are against the basics of Islam and this criteria has to be considered by every Islamic party and government." Tuesday's attack on the Army Public School in Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar claimed the lives of 132 children, and nine staff from the school.
Official reports, following police and military action against the attackers, insist seven people took part in the school attack; although a statement, issued by the TTK, insists there were only six, their targets being older pupils. The attack began in the mid morning local time, with the assailants observed entering the compound wearing suicide vests. Shortly thereafter, shots were heard with survivors reporting the gunmen were shooting people indiscriminately, going from classroom to classroom, killing teachers and students as they found them.
The massacre sparked a public outcry, both national and international; which, press speculate, led to the TTK stressing the intent to only target older students at the army school.
Turkey announced one day of national mourning. Described as impossible to justify and "blood-curdling" by the UN Secretary-General, EU Parliamentary President Schulz labelled the attack "abominable and cowardly [demonstrating] the inhuman attitude of the Taliban, their inhuman ideology, their remorseless fanaticism", and Indian Nobel Prize-winner Kailash Satyarthi, condemned the attackers as "enemies of Allah" and stated: "The militants, be they Taliban or any other militants, who kill children, are the enemies of humanity. This attack is a blot on humanity".
In addition to a three-day period of national mourning, President Sharif reintroduced Pakistan's death penalty.
Sources
- "Pakistan mourns after Taliban Peshawar school massacre" — BBC News Online, December 17, 2014
- "Peshawar school massacre: What we know" — BBC News Online, December 17, 2014
- Reuters. "Afghanistan Taliban condemns school attack by Pakistani Taliban" — Toronto Sun, December 17, 2014
- "Global Revulsion Over Taliban Attack on Peshawar School" — Newsweek Pakistan, December 17, 2014
- "Worldwide condemnation over Taliban murder of school children" — Euronews, December 16, 2014
- "Pakistan Taliban ‘kill over 100’ in Peshawar school attack" — Euronews, December 16, 2014
- Seamus Kearney. "Children targeted in Pakistan’s deadliest militant attack in years; 132 students are killed" — Euronews, December 16, 2014
- ANI. "Kailash Satyarthi terms perpetrators of Peshawar attack as 'enemies of Allah'" — Daily News and Analysis, December 16, 2014
- Peter Popham. "Peshawar school attack: 'I will never forget the black boots...It was like death approaching me'" — The Independent, December 16, 2014
- Devjyot Ghoshal and Diksha Madhok. "“Shoot the older students”—The Pakistani Taliban’s barbaric message" — Quartz (publication), December 16, 2014
- Yaroslav Lukov, Alastair Lawson, Kerry Alexandra, Julia Macfarlane, Sally Taft, Jasmine Coleman. "As it happened: Pakistan school attack" — BBC News Online, December 16, 2014
