Muslim leaders in West Midlands condemn 'murderous inhumanity' of Pakistan school massacre

The president of Wolverhampton's Ahmadiyya Muslim Association said the deaths of 142 people, many of them children, were the result of 'the seeds of extremism sewn decades ago' as he called on the West to support Pakistan in ending the threat of terrorism.

Mohammed Yaseen Khan said the Willenhall Road based association was 'horrified' by the attack.

He said: "What started out as discrimination has grown. We want the government and the West to assist in completely terminating the extreme and violent elements of the Taliban.

"We believe in love for all and hatred for none.

"The seeds of extremism were sewn decades ago and have grown into a huge tree, with roots that shake the entire country."

The association helped raise money last month for the Poppy Appeal.

Its president spoke out after seven Taliban gunmen, explosives strapped to their bodies, scaled a back wall to get into the Army Public School and College in Peshawar on Tuesday morning.

Students were gunned down and some of the female teachers were burned alive. The attack was the deadliest slaughter of innocents in the country and horrified a nation already weary of unending terrorist assaults.

Walsall councillor Aftab Nawaz added: "Our thoughts and hearts go to the children who have been the victims of this terrible act of violence.

"The people who have done this do not represent a faith. They are criminals and terrorists."

A Pakistani man from Wolverhampton told how he had lost a close friend and two cousins' children in the attack.

The man, who gave his name only as Shah, said: "I'm totally devastated. Two of my cousin's sons went to school and never came back. One of my best friends, she was a teacher in that school. She left a three month old daughter. She has three daughters. It's really sad.

"My cousin's sons were nine and 10."

Speaking to Danny Kelly on BBC WM he tearfully said: "My friend was having a lovely life. She and her husband were very happy. I used to speak to them on Facebook. What will the children think when they ask where is their mother?

"She was a lovely, smiley person. The people who did this are not human. I cannot call them humans, who did this.

"They are trying to kill our hopes, our future, but they can't.

"These children were just little angels."

Walsall North MP David Winnick raised the atrocity in the House of Commons, as mass funerals took place.

He said: "As we would all agree, this has undoubtedly been an act of murderous inhumanity.

"I raise this point of order not just to give the latest information, but to ask whether there is any way in which the House can express its horror at and condemnation of what has occurred in Pakistan. It is an act of terror carried out —and recognised and admitted as such—by the Taliban. I hope that it will be possible for such condemnation to be expressed by the House."

Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing replied: "We express our absolute horror and enormous sadness at this terrible atrocity. We are used to seeing dreadful acts of terrorism, but rarely have we seen such an awful act of terrorism against children."

Pakistan is in the middle of three days of official mourning.

he Taliban said the attack was revenge for a military offensive against their safe havens in the north west, along the border with Afghanistan, which began in June. Analysts said the school siege showed that even diminished, the militant group could still inflict horrific carnage.

The attack drew swift condemnation from around the world. President Barack Obama said the 'terrorists have once again showed their depravity'.

Pakistan's teenage Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai - herself a survivor of a Taliban shooting and now living in Birmingham - said she was 'heartbroken' by the bloodshed.