UNESCO slams Peshawar school attack

December 17, 2014 05:14 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 02:12 am IST - Paris

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova on Wednesday expressed her outrage and distress over the attack on a school in Pakistan’s Peshawar city in which 148 people, including 132 students, were killed.

“Less than a week after Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, this heinous attack is a crime against the future of all children and the nation of Pakistan,” said Bokova in a statement.

“It is a crime against learning and against innocence, committed in the very place where children come each day to open their minds — their own school,” she added.

Bokova said terror will not silence the millions of voices around the world that are demanding that education should be a right and that schools should be safe.

We will let neither fear nor terror have the upper hand, she said.

She extended her deepest condolences to the families and friends who have lost their close kin in this tragedy and said the perpetrators of the crime should be brought to justice.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.