Scottish Catholic Observer

Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi has called on the government to step up security in the wake of the Peshawar school massacre. The archbishop said Tuesday’s terrorist incident at the army public school was a ‘revenge attack’ against the Pakistan military and that the Taliban ‘will stop at nothing now’ to harm people.

Speaking from Karachi, Archbishop Coutts, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that the threat to schools, hospitals, churches, mosques and other public places had grown and that tighter security was crucial.

In a statement strongly condemning the attack, the prelate calls on Pakistan’s 300 or more Catholic schools and colleges to hold prayers and a one-minute silence to remember the 141 people who died.

“What happened yesterday was a sign of desperation,” Archbishop Coutts said. “The Taliban are prepared to carry out brutal attacks, killing schoolchildren, shooting them in the head. They will stop at nothing now. It is just blind hatred. I don’t think it was a show of strength. It is more likely to be a last ditch attempt to show what they can do.”

Reports from the Pakistan Army said that seven Taliban gunmen, all wearing bomb vests, carried out the attack at around 10am local time on Tuesday.

The attackers went from classroom to classroom at the Army Public School, which teaches children from both

military and civilian backgrounds, shooting pupils and teachers. All the gunmen where later killed, though it is unclear if they blew themselves up or were killed by Army Commandos. The Pakistani Taliban has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks, claiming it as retaliation for army operations in areas along the border with Afghanistan.

The Church in India joined its neighbour in condemning the attack.

“My soul is overwhelmed by deep sorrow and great distress for the horrible massacre of innocent children in the school in Peshawar,” Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, said.

“The loss of young and precious lives in neighbouring Pakistan is a source of grief and mourning also for my country, India.”