Taliban Massacre Of School Children May Have Been In Revenge For Malala Peace Prize

As Pakistan reels in the aftermath of yesterdays Taliban massacre in Peshawar the New York Post is reporting that, Ahmed Rashid, an expert on the Taliban group, claims that the atrocity “may have been committed to send a message to those who support Nobel winner Malala Yousafzai”, an advocate for education of women and children.

Malala who was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012 said

“I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold-blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us,” “Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this. I condemn these atrocious and cowardly acts and stand united with the government and armed forces of Pakistan whose efforts so far to address this horrific event are commendable.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZveUKAzksc

As the western world world wakes this morning you cannot help but be moved by the heartbreaking sight of the people of Peshawar burying the victims of the Taliban’s horrific attack, the most deadly by the Pakistani Taliban to date. The BBC report that “mourners crowded around coffins bedecked with flowers, after candlelit vigils were staged overnight.”

The Guardian reports that the Pakistan military has taken punitive action against Taliban militants by launching massive air strikes against its border region strongholds in retaliation for the Peshawar school massacre. Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, vowed a military offensive that began in the summer to eradicate Taliban havens in North Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, would continue “until terrorism is rooted from our land”.

This latest attack by the Taliban has drawn worldwide condemnation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to twitter to condemn “a senseless act of unspeakable brutality.”

It is a senseless act of unspeakable brutality that has claimed lives of the most innocent of human beings – young children in their school.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 16, 2014

U.S. President Barack Obama described the attack as heinous, while his secretary of state John Kerry described it as “gut-wrenching” and “an unspeakable horror”. Echoing the Pakistan government and military, Kerry said: “The perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

British Prime Minister, David Cameron described it as a dark day for humanity. “There is not a belief system in the world that can justify this appalling act.”

Perhaps ironically the Pakistani Taliban has even been condemned by the Afghanistan Taliban. Reuters reported that Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, said in a statement

“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,”

The Pakistani Taliban are separate from but allied to the Afghan Taliban across the border. Both aim to overthrow their own governments and establish an Islamic state. In the aftermath of yesterdays attack Time is suggesting that the attack may be as a result of power struggles within the Taliban. Analysts however seem divided as Gareth Price, senior research fellow at London-based think-tank Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, suggests the Taliban is desperately seeking high-profile targets to convey the impression that it’s stronger than ever. “The Taliban in Pakistan are a fringe, if a substantial fringe,” he says. “This [attack] should be seen as coming from a position of weakness rather than a position of strength.”

Meanwhile Michael Kugelman, an expert in South Asian affairs at the Washington D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, disagrees saying, “Today really marks a new phase in the Pakistan Taliban’s incredibly violent insurgency against the Pakistani state.”

[images AFP, Getty Images via BBC]