Peshawar school massacre: 'Pakistan's 9/11'

So many people were affected by Tuesday's school massacre - what has been the impact on a national level?

I think it's like 9/11, which happened in the United States. Now, it has happened in Pakistan. It has affected everybody in politics, in the military, in every corner of the country, and it is our biggest tragedy in Pakistan. Every class of people has been affected because this time, it was children, and you know, children are like flowers. Other countries are also giving us wonderful encouragement just to carry on and continue with the war against militants.

Is this the worst story you have ever come across in your seven-year career as the Islamabad correspondent for The Express Tribune?

It is the second biggest story in terms of the killing of children after the 2004 Beslan school massacre. Now it has happened in Pakistan. It is the biggest story in my career, bigger even than the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The public had a mixed response back then - some people said it was good, some said it was bad. But this time, the whole nation - the military, leaders of the opposition in parliament - are united. The military stands united, the political parties stand united, and the whole nation is protesting against militants. So I think it is one of the biggest stories at least in my career, and one of the biggest tragedies seen in the country since 1971 when Pakistan lost the eastern part of the country when Bangladesh was established.

Can anything be done on a local and national level to prevent a repeat of such devastating terrorist acts?

Post 9/11, Pakistan has been struggling to fight against the militants, and of course, Pakistan unfortunately has limited resources and was unable to form a policy in terms of national security. But this time, after a change in command, the new military chief has made strong pledges, and there were fresh airstrikes on Wednesday carried out by the Pakistan Air Force. There were reports of more than 60 militants being killed in tribal areas where they go into hiding and have strong support. So it seems Pakistan is enforcing the law, and there are claims that the military has destroyed militant networks.

There could be further retaliation to the military's ongoing operations in tribal areas as Pakistan's militants have strong support on the other side of the border in Afghanistan. That is why Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, rushed to Kabul on Tuesday after reports the man who is leading Pakistan's Taliban is hiding in Afghanistan. Pakistan demanded that he should be handed over to the Islamabad authorities. It seems to be a new turning point for the military, and the political leadership, in the effort to wipe out the Taliban.

Who could be the main actors in future negotiations with al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan?

This is a very important question as Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a joint statement that now there would be no difference between the "good" Taliban, and the "bad" Taliban, that the nation stood united, the government is going to fight, and it is not going to go for any negotiations. In answer to your question, it seems at the moment there will be no negotiations allowed, but let's see, the situation could change in the future. Some underground negotiations were going on with the "good" Taliban. But this time, after the statement on Wednesday, it seems that the government is going to fight against the militants, and apparently, in the future, there won't be any mediators between the Taliban and the government of Pakistan.

Zahid Gishkori is the Islamabad correspondent for The Express Tribune (a partner of the International New York Times), and the Alfred Friendly-Daniel Pearl Fellow 2014.

Interview conducted by Lucia Walton