Pakistan Supreme Court grills PM Imran Khan in 2014 Army Public School bloodbath case

Imran Khan on Wednesday confronted a barrage of questions at a listening to of the 2014 terror assault on an Army-run faculty throughout which the Supreme Court bench requested the Pakistan prime minister why he was negotiating with the culprits of the bloodbath of practically 150 folks, principally college students.

A complete of 147 folks, 132 of them kids, have been killed when Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants stormed Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar in 2014.The three-judge bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, and comprising Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan — had summoned Khan round 10 am. He arrived on the courtroom roughly two hours later, simply earlier than midday.”The satisfaction of the dad and mom [who lost their children in the APS attack] is critical,” stated Justice Ahsan addressing the premier.The chief justice requested the prime minister to tell the courtroom of the work being accomplished by his authorities concerning the APS case, the Dawn newspaper reported.The chief justice informed the prime minister that the dad and mom of the APS victims weren’t in search of compensation from the federal government.”Parents are asking the place was the safety system [that day]? Despite our complete orders, nothing was accomplished,” he stated.The prime minister informed the chief justice {that a} National Action Plan was launched after the APS bloodbath, including that there’s ”no holy cow” in Pakistan, Geo News reported.Read | Pak PM Imran Khan accused of promoting presents he acquired from different nation headsThe bench stated the federal government ought to take heed to the dad and mom of the APS schoolchildren and take motion towards the culprits.”The authorities ought to take motion towards these concerned within the Army Public School bloodbath,” stated the Supreme Court.Khan assured the bench that the federal government will fulfil the necessities of justice. The apex courtroom, in flip, directed the prime minister to make sure the implementation of its October 20 verdict.The prime minister informed the bench that he had met the dad and mom of the deceased kids earlier than, including that he would proceed to do it sooner or later.”Find out why 80,000 folks have been killed. Also, discover out who’s answerable for 480 drone assaults going down in Pakistan,” Khan stated.”Finding out about these items is your job, you’re the prime minister. As the prime minister, it’s best to have the reply to those questionsYou are the prime minister, it’s best to have solutions,” the chief justice responded.”Khan informed the Supreme Court judges that they’ll represent a high-level fee on the APS tragedy.”We have already shaped a fee and it has issued a report as nicely. Our order of October 20 states clearly that the federal government ought to discover out who’s answerable for the bloodbath and take motion towards them,” responded the chief justice.Read | Pakistan PM Imran Khan removes extremist group TLP from banned outfitsThe chief justice reminded the prime minister that seven years had handed for the reason that tragedy happened.”Mr Prime Minister, we aren’t a small nation. We have the sixth largest military on the earth,” stated Justice Amin.Justice Amin informed the prime minister that he had now introduced the culprits of the bloodbath to the negotiating desk.”Are we about to signal a give up doc as soon as once more? According to media experiences, you might be negotiating with these folks,” Justice Amin was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.The authorities is in talks with the TTP over a ”reconciliation course of”, with Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry having introduced on Monday {that a} ”full ceasefire” had been reached with the banned outfit.During the final listening to, the Supreme Court bench had directed the legal professional basic to tell the courtroom concerning the steps taken by the federal government to redress the grievances of the dad and mom of youngsters martyred within the assault on APS on Dec 16, 2014.In Wednesday’s listening to, the chief justice requested Attorney General (AG) Khalid Jawed Khan whether or not the prime minister had learn the courtroom’s order by which he had directed the legal professional basic to take motion on the complaints of the victims’ dad and mom.The AG knowledgeable the courtroom that the order had not been despatched to the premier, including that he would inform prime minister Khan about it.”Is this the extent of seriousness?” the chief justice requested. ”Call the prime minister, we are going to discuss to him ourselves. This can’t go on,” he added.The legal professional basic, on behalf of the federal government, stated that ”we settle for all our errors”.The dad and mom had demanded the registration of a primary data report (FIR) towards these civilian and army officers who, they imagine, have been answerable for safety measures on the faculty, on the final listening to, the Dawn newspaper reported.During the proceedings on Wednesday, the legal professional basic stated, ”FIR couldn’t be registered towards higher-ups.””Where does the intelligence [agencies] disappear in relation to the safety of their very own residents? Was a case registered towards the previous military chief and others accountable?” the chief justice requested.The legal professional basic replied that the inquiry report didn’t discover something associated to the previous military chief and former director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).At this, the chief justice remarked, ”There is such an enormous intelligence system within the nation. Billions of rupees are spent on it. There can also be a declare that we’re the very best intelligence company on the earth. So a lot is being spent on intelligence however the outcomes are zero.”Read | ISI chief’s removing vital, I worry for Imran Khan: Adrian Levy at India Today Conclave 2021