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Pakistan: Islamabad Citizens Vigil on 16 June 2015 in memory of victims of Dec. 2014 APS massacre in Peshawar | Text of Draft Statement

16 June 2015

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[email from civil society groups in Islamabad] Requesting participation in the planned event on 16 June at 6:30-7:30 pm at the Parliament chowk, in memory of, and to honour and pay tribute to the victims and survivors of the APS/Peshawar tragedy of 16 Dec.2014. Requesting review, comments, endorsements of the DRAFT statement below. Suggestions: Each participating individual could perhaps bring ONE CANDLE or ONE POSTER for themselves....? Requesting all email recipients and focal persons to PLEASE share this email with ALL your staff colleagues friends, students, family, in your own respective organizations and your own lists. This needs to be an inclusive and participatory event... Can someone pls volunteer to bring a megaphone/PA system? Thank you. Hope to see HUNDREDS of us out to honour the memory of our fallen compatriots, & ESPECIALLY TO PAY TRIBUTE TO OUR CHILDREN...

==[Text of Draft Statement]==

CIVIL SOCIETY OBSERVES SIX-MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF APS/PESHAWAR ATROCITY

Islamabad – 16 June 2015

Citizens, activists, civil society members are gathered here today in Islamabad, to mark six months of unceasing grief and outrage at the brutal loss of so many of our beloved children and the brave Principal and teachers of the Army Public School in Peshawar on 16th December 2014.

We solemnly pledge that we will always remember and honour their memory. We will continue to pay tribute and stand in solidarity with the families of the APS victims and survivors – and also with the families of around 60,000 of our fellow Pakistani citizens lost to terrorism, militant extremism, sectarianism and misplaced imported notions of ‘jihad’.

Those lost include members of the law enforcement agencies, armed forces, government, non-government organizations, polio workers, media, human rights defenders, peace activists, and, most important, ordinary fellow citizens in public places, who bravely continue to face the vicious backlash.

We honour, and will continue to honour our heroes, both dead and alive, for instance, in addition to the 150 students and teachers of the Army Public School, we pay tribute to Aitezaz Hassan Bangash, Malala Yusufzai, Shabana, Chand Bibi, Dr. Farooq Khan, Prof. Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Tahira Qazi, Farida Afridi, Benazir Bhutto, Miangul Asfandyar Amirzeb, Malik Saad Khan, Chaudhry Aslam, Habib Jalib Baloch, Prof. Saba Dashtiari, Clement Shahbaz Bhatti, worshippers at All-Saints church/Peshawar, Bilal mosque/Rawalpindi and imambargah/Shikarpur, Irfan Ali Khudi and Hazara Shias/Quetta, Capt. Naveed Khan Wazir, Surgeon-General Mushtaq Ahmad Baig, Gen. Sanaullah Niazi, Salman Taseer, Naeem Sabir, Siddique Eido, Zarteef Afridi, Malik Jarar, Perween Rahman, Rashid Rehman, Sabeen Mahmud, Prof. Waheed ur-Rahman, Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus, Ismailis, Kalash, Parsis, Shias, Sikhs, judges, lawyers, doctors, armed forces jawans and police constables, the million plus IDPs of Swat and FATA. We honour our brave media heroes who have suffered for upholding their freedom of expression in, *inter alia*, FATA, Swat, Peshawar, Turbat, Quetta, Karachi, Hyderabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Lahore, Islamabad and elsewhere, among tens of thousands of unsung heroes.

We also appreciate the steadfastness with which the armed forces are carrying out the counter-terrorism Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan for one year now, and the sacrifices of those personnel who have laid down their lives in the service of our homeland; but, at the same time, we call upon the civil and military leadership (i) to open up the region to the private print and electronic media – within the parameters of security; (ii) to ensure that the IDPs are not repatriated until the areas are cleared; (iii) to treat IDPs with dignity and respect, ensuring that their repatriation and rehabilitation process is UNCONDITIONAL; and (iv) to glorify peace not war and violence through the ISPR’s explicit video songs.

At the same time, we will continue to question our federal and provincial governments, legislators, judiciary, law enforcement, civilian and military intelligence agencies, on the commitment and progress – or the lack thereof –- in implementing the post-APS 20-point National Action Plan (NAP).

We demand simultaneous and even-handed action on all aspects of the NAP, without fear of political or physical backlash, and without targeting particular segments, groups or organizations in Pakistani society. This must start with reinstating the rule of law, returning power to civilian LEAs, police law reform, criminal justice system reform, school and madrassa curriculum and textbooks reform; and encouragement of self-regulation by the private electronic media.

We demand that no citizen, regardless of rank or status, should be allowed to possess, carry or display any weapons, licenced or not. We also demand disbanding of all private militias and implementation of the Constitution Article 256.

[ends – 594]