REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, Reactions from around the world to the deadly Taliban attack on a military-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan on Tuesday.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
"No cause can justify such brutality. No grievance can excuse such horror. It is an act of horror and rank cowardice to attack defenseless children while they learn. Schools must be safe and secure learning spaces. Getting an education is every child's right. Going to school should not have to be an act of bravery."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
"The news of the terrorist attack on a school in Peshawar has shaken me deeply. The hostgage-taking and murder of children and youth is barbarity that cannot be surpassed."
British Prime Minister David Cameron
"The scale of what has happened in Pakistan simply defies belief. It is a dark, dark day for humanity when something on this scale happens with no justification. There is not a belief system in the world that can justify such an act. I think what this shows is the worldwide threat that is posed by this poisonous ideology of extremist Islamist terrorism. It is nothing to do with one of the world's great religions - Islam, which is a religion of peace. This is a perversion."
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird
"On October 9, 2012, the Taliban attempted to silence one girl who dared to confront them, and stifle her future. They failed miserably. In the moments that follow such harrowing tragedy, we hope that the resolve and the dignity of innocent Pakistani people will see more children like Malala Yousafzai emerge to carry the torch forward for more education, free from violence or intimidation."
US Secretary of State John Kerry
"Mothers and fathers send their kids to school to learn and to be safe and to dream and to find opportunity. And particularly at this military school in Pakistan, they sent their kids there with the hope and dreams of serving their country. Instead, today they are gone, wiped away by Taliban assassins who serve a dark and almost medieval vision, and the opposite of everything that those mothers and fathers wanted for their children. The images are absolutely gut-wrenching: young children carried away in ambulances, a teacher burned alive in front of the students, a house of learning turned into a house of unspeakable horror."
David Griffiths, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Asia-Pacific
"There can be absolutely no justification for targeting children in this way. This unconscionable Taliban attack is a grave reminder that civilians in northwest Pakistan desperately need effective protection from militant groups."
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