9th anniversary
Haqnawaz Shinwari
PESHAWAR
Pakistanhas been the victim of terrorism for many decades but on December 16, 2014, Peshawar faced a terrorist attack that targeted school children. Itwas a national tragedy that wounded the heart of every Pakistani and willbe remembered as a dark day in the history of humanity.
A horrible terrorist attack in whichseven heavily armed terrorists stormed Army Public School(APS) in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, killing 149 people, of whom at least132 were students.
very year the nation remembers the students who were killed by the terrorists mercilesslybut the principle of the APS, Tahira Qazi’s dedication will be remembered for manyyears to come.
The brave lady sacrificed her life but stood as a wall betweenthe terrorists and the innocent children.
After thetragic incident, they claimed responsibility for the APS attack, saying it wasin retaliation for Operation According to law enforcement agencies credible reports, the terrorists who launched an attack on the school in the heart of Peshawar andkilled them inside the school were trained in Afghanistan.
Responsibility for themassacre was claimed by a bannedoutfit of the Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
TTP leaders sought to justify the massacre as retaliationfor law enforcement attacks on its members during the Operation Zarb Azbin North Waziristan.
The heartbreaking tragedy brought tears to every eye andunited the entire nation and all political parties on the same table for futureplanning against the severe blow of terrorism across the country.
The cowardly terrorists wanted to extinguishthe candle of knowledge by attacking the school and targeted the futurebuilders but could not dampen the morale of the nation.
People of every schoolof thought throughout the country rejected the terrorist and evil thinking thatpropagated this cruelty and brutality.
The tragedy also led to formulation of aclear policy and agreed action plan in the form of “National ActionPlan” to combat terrorism and the incident occurred in the APS.
The entireworld condemned this sad incident and strongly demanded that these terroristsbe punished.
9 years have passed since the tragedy of APS, but the wounds ofthe nation are still fresh today.
No doubt, terrorists still usingAfghanistan’s territory and targeting innocent citizens of Pakistan. Even today, Pakistan’s forces and people arefighting against the terrorists of Afghanistan.
The mother of slain MuhammadAli while recalling her son said that he was very friendly and lively and knownas golden boy among his friends and school mates.
My son wanted to become acommando in SSG. Perhaps he has fought a battle, but he did not survive andleft us forever, she said and added that Ali was very close to me.
Even today,if someone asks me, I have one son and three sons, because the martyr is alive. Ali used to tell me that Mama, I will giveyou the happiness that you will remember.
I did not know that he was talkingabout martyrdom, she said. Another slain student of the APS was remembered byhis father.
He said that his son Shayan Nasir Shaheed was fond of playingcricket. He was the youngest and the apple of everyone’s eyes in our family,said Father of Shayan Nasir Shaheed.
This is my message that the propagandaagainst the Pakistan Army should not be done because there is a famous saying”If the country does not have its own army, it will be someone else’sarmy.”
Proud of the Pakistan Army, he said.Another family who lost Nangyal and Samuel onthe tragic day maintained that the world is incomplete with their two slainchildren.
The sisters of the Nangyal and Shaul saidthat they have joined an event in connection with APS martyred in Peshawar anddesired to join the Pakistan Army.
In Pakistan, the tragedy of APS is sosoul-searching, so monumental that its imprint will remain permanently etched inour collective consciousness.
The attack on a school in Peshawar nine yearsago left everyone flabbergasted and faced everyone with indelible memories.
Thatis even more so for the students who survived the unprecedented brutal attackand for the families of the dead whose lives were forever changed on that day.
