Activites

• 2015/01/15 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
  • T8-0007/2015 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Pakistan, in particular the situation following the Peshawar school attack. The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA and EFDD groups. Parliament strongly condemned the brutal massacre of schoolchildren by Pakistani Taliban splinter group Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) on 16 December 2014 when seven armed men launched a deadly attack against an Army Public School in the city of Peshawar killing over 140 people, including 134 school children. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the massacre and said one of the reasons for the attack on the school was to send a strong message to the supporters of Malala, who advocates education for women and children, as well as to take ‘revenge’ for the army’s campaign against the militants. Parliament expressed its full commitment to tackling the threat posed by terrorism and religious extremism and its readiness to further assist the Pakistani Government in this. It called on the Government of Pakistan to take urgent and effective measures to strengthen its efforts to arrest and prosecute TTP militants and others who target schools for violence. The resolution also called on the Government of Pakistan to reserve anti-terrorism laws for acts of terror, instead of being using them to try ordinary criminal cases; regrets strongly the recourse to fast-track military justice which lacks minimal conditions of international standards of the rule of law, and underlined that the prolonged granting of GSP+ preferences is linked to the accomplishment of certain basic standards enshrined in UN and ILO conventions. Parliament called for a long-term strategy to prevent the radicalisation of young people in Pakistan and tackle the ‘extensive learning crisis’ which UNESCO has established for Pakistan, in particular by increasing investment in a publicly funded education system and by making sure religious schools have the materials they need to provide a balanced and inclusive education to young people. Lastly, Members urged the Pakistani Government to abide by the recently ratified international agreements on human rights and called on the Commission, Vice-President/High Representative Federica Mogherini, the European External Action Service and the Council to fully commit in order to tackle the threat posed by terrorism and to further assist the Pakistan Government and the people of Pakistan with continuing their efforts to eradicate terrorism.

Documents

• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0007/2015

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)