APS parents disappointed after PM says he ‘compensated’ them

Supreme Court tells PM Khan parents don’t want compensation but their children back

Picture source: APP

The father of an APS martyr has expressed grave disappointment at Prime Minister Imran Khan for saying in the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday that his former government in Peshawar did everything they could do to ‘compensate’ aggrieved parents.

The father, Gul Shehzad Khattak, appeared as a guest on Meher Bokhari’s show and said that PM Khan had claimed he would advocate for the aggrieved, but he was not with the people. He said we had told him then to give us one son in exchange of the wealth and assets of all 147 families affected. He added that it did not suit the PM to say he ‘compensated’ the loved ones of the martyrs.

A mother, Falak Niaz Bibi, who lost her two sons in the terrorist attack, lamented that she still awaited justice. Bibi said that she had lost the only children she had in the APS massacre and that she had knocked on all possible doors to get justice for her sons. The mother, breaking down in tears, said that it was difficult as a woman to go around a city like Peshawar to get justice.

Both parents said they would continue to fight for justice till their last breaths. They also said that the SC, having summoned PM Khan in connection to the case, gave them a sliver of hope in their journey towards justice, which had been ongoing for eight years.

On Wednesday morning, PM Khan faced tough questions about the delay in justice as well as the ceasefire with banned outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in the Supreme Court.

The three-judge bench was headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmad, who told PM Khan that he was all-powerful in the country and had brought the perpetrators to the negotiating table. Also part of the bench, Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that the martyrs’ parents must be considered in the entire peace process. Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed, meanwhile, asked the premier whether the country would just submit to TTP again.

PM Khan responded to the bombardment of questions and said there was no ‘holy cow’ in the country. He said parents didn’t only want justice from the current government but wanted answers over where the security apparatus was on the day of the attack.