Peshawar terrorist attack in 2014
A terrorist attack in Peshawar on December 16, 2014 killed 148 people, including more than 130 children, in the city of Peshawar , Pakistan . It was the terrorist attack with the highest death toll in Pakistan to date.
event
On the afternoon of December 16, 2014, seven Islamist Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) fighters broke into the Army Public School in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan. The fighters wore Pakistani Frontier Corps army uniforms . The school is a public school run by the Pakistani Army . The majority of the students are children of employees or members of the Pakistani army; the school is also open to the general population.
At the school, the intruders opened fire on those present with semi-automatic weapons. At the time of the attack, exams had been held in the auditorium . The army announced that the majority of the 500 students had been brought to safety. The army said they killed five attackers and are looking for more.
The army cordoned off the entire area. The police held back parents who tried to enter the school through the security corridor. The TTP said they had snipers and suicide bombers in the building; it is an army school. The attack was a reaction to the military offensive of the Pakistani army against the Taliban.
The building was stormed a little later by special forces of the Pakistani army, with all seven assassins killed. It is unclear whether children were also killed in the process. The nationality of the seven terrorists was initially unclear; some of them spoke Arabic.
background
A war has been smoldering between the Pakistani security forces and various militant Islamist groups in the country since 2004. The Islamists (including offshoots of al-Qaeda , Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and others) are aiming to overthrow the Pakistani government, which they see as a US puppet regime, and are trying to destabilize the state through terrorist acts. The Islamists have their refuge primarily in the north-western border province on the border with Afghanistan and from there penetrate into Afghanistan, where they attack the western ISAF forces there. The Pakistani government receives military and logistical support from the United States . The United States has repeatedly carried out drone strikes against the Islamists, some of which have killed uninvolved civilians. The situation is complicated by the fact that the United States is extremely unpopular with large sections of the Pakistani population and is considered a neo-colonial power that regularly violates Pakistan's sovereignty. In addition, Pakistani society has experienced increasing Islamization in recent years ( blasphemy laws , introduction of Sharia law ), which is expressed, among other things, in increasing intolerance towards religious minorities. That is why there is certainly some hidden sympathy for the Islamists, while the USA is perceived as a western intruder. This is one of the reasons why Pakistani politicians have held back in the past when it comes to resolutely condemning Islamist acts of terrorism, especially when they took place in neighboring Afghanistan. In addition, they always tried not to be too close to the positions of the US government. Since the Taliban attack on Jinnah International Airport on June 8, 2014, however, a major offensive against the Taliban in North Waziristan has been launched.
The attack in Peshawar exceeded everything that had been seen before. The date of the attack has a special meaning for Pakistan: On December 16, 1971, the Pakistani army surrendered in the Bangladesh war with India.
Reactions
After the Peshawar bloodbath, the country's political elite tried to find the right words. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ( Muslim League ) tried to negotiate with the Taliban at the beginning of his term in office. After the attack, he showed determination: “We mourn our children. Nobody should doubt that we will fight terrorism until we have defeated it. Our struggle will continue. ” After a meeting with the Pakistani army chief in Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that both countries should take effective joint measures to combat terrorism. In Peshawar, shocked and angry residents demonstrated against the terrorists.
Schireen Mirzi, spokeswoman for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) of the Pakistani sports legend Imran Khan , made a distinction between moderate and radical Taliban in one comment. The Khan movement has been trying to paralyze the country since late summer, fighting the government and blaming the US in particular for the terror in Pakistan. She said, “This is a barbaric act by animals. It is time for the nation to stand together. We have to fight the terror of the Taliban, reject the talks and who do not have the courage to fight other fighters, but rather attack young children. "
Resumption of the practice of the death penalty in Pakistan
Since 2008, the death penalty , which is allowed under Pakistani law, has been suspended. Those sentenced to death were no longer executed, but remained in custody. In Pakistan, more than 8,000 people have been imprisoned who have been sentenced to death - more than in any other country in the world (as of 12/2014). Around 800 of them were convicted in the context of acts of terrorism.
After the attacks in Peshawar, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced that this moratorium would now be lifted. On December 19, 2014, the first two death sentences were carried out. The executed were two men who carried out an attack on the headquarters of the Pakistani army in 2009 . The Pakistani government announced its intention to execute 500 convicted extremists in the near future. The resumption of the executions met with international criticism from human rights organizations. According to various human rights organizations, judicial proceedings in Pakistan often fail to comply with the most basic legal principles, with the result that many people not guilty of the indictment are presumably convicted.
In August 2015, six of the attackers were sentenced to death, and another to life imprisonment . On December 2, 2015, the Pakistani security authorities announced that they had executed four of the convicts.
Further development
On July 9, 2016, Omar Khalid Khorasani, the alleged client and organizer of the terrorist attack, was killed in a drone attack in the vicinity of Nangarhar (Afghanistan).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pakistan school attack: Military courts to try terror suspects. BBC News, December 24, 2014, accessed December 27, 2014 .
- ↑ spiegel.de
- ^ Taliban go on killing spree at Pakistan school, 132 students dead
- ↑ 132 children killed in Peshawar school bloodbath. rediff.com, December 17, 2014, accessed December 20, 2014 .
- ↑ tagesschau.de https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/terroranschlag-pakistan-113.html
- ↑ Pakistan school attack: PM Sharif vows to end 'terrorism'. BBC News, December 17, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Shaimaa Khalil: Taliban school massacre: 'Shock and disbelief' in Peshawar. December 18, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ tagesschau.de https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/terroranschlag-pakistan-113.html
- ↑ a b Pakistan resumes executions after Peshawar school attack. BBC News, December 19, 2014, accessed December 20, 2014 .
- ^ Asad Hashim: Pakistan lifts death penalty moratorium. Aljazeera, December 17, 2014, accessed January 7, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Terror on death row: The abuse and overuse of Pakistan's anti-terrorism legislation. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Justice Project Pakistan and Terror reprieve, December 2014, archived from the original on February 12, 2015 ; accessed on January 7, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Death penalty: Pakistan wants to execute 500 convicted extremists. Zeit online, December 22, 2014, accessed December 24, 2014 .
- ↑ Taliban attack: Pakistan imposes death penalty for attempting a school. Spiegel online, August 13, 2015, accessed December 2, 2015 .
- ↑ Pakistan executes four people involved in school attack. (No longer available online.) AFP December 2, 2015, archived from the original on December 8, 2015 ; accessed on December 2, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Peshawar school massacre mastermind confirmed dead in drone attack: ISPR. The Express Tribune Pakistan, July 13, 2016, accessed August 9, 2016 .
