16th December, 2014 has turned out to be the
worst possible ending of the year 2014 with 130 people killed, out of which 120
were children and more than 150 injured.
It all began on the morning of 16th December,
2014, when six to eight militants entered the Army Public School (APS) in
Peshawar and opened gunfire and blasted bombs, killing anyone who came in their
way. The counts started from 7 children dying to the martyrdom of 130 people,
within a few hours, at the hands of these terrorists. Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the dreadful massacre.
Twitter and Facebook was full of concerned youngsters and
adults when the death count was increasing; people who were not even related to
the deceased or the injured were just as worried for the safety of the children
of the nation, the children of Peshawar. Silent prayers were on the lips of
every Pakistani today. Every Pakistani was waiting for it all to end, everyone
was hoping to wake up from this horrible nightmare to realize it wasn’t true. All
citizens of our beloved Pakistan were united, with eyed glued to their
televisions, praying, and hoping against hope, because there wasn’t much else
they could do to help.
I watched the parents and relatives of the dead, running
about frantically in search of their loved ones. Mothers were fainting,
bursting into terrifying wails on hearing the news of their children being
brought back from school in a coffin. Fathers were torn apart after being
informed that they would have to organize a funeral of their child. Brothers
and sisters of the deceased could not imagine that they would now have to live
a life without their siblings.
I watched the bloody bodies of the injured being rushed to
the hospital on my TV. I saw 130 coffins being prepared for their respective
funerals. I saw the coffins with the tiny bodies of the children in it, being
carried by fathers, brothers, relatives and volunteers. I watched little kids
being rescued by the Pakistan Army and running to their parents, with tears
streaming down their face. Every channel I turned to, I saw two things: chaos
and fear.
It’s a feeling so terrifying that it cannot be explained in
words – the bewildering feeling of thinking what makes the terrorists do
something so barbaric, horrendous and inhumane so as to kill children, little
innocent children, who had done nothing wrong except for waking up and going to
school? What makes them turn into such cruel and vicious creatures who kill 130
people and believe that they have successfully achieved their Heaven? What
makes them believe that taking revenge because of the Zarb-e-Azb operation, by
taking the lives of children could somehow be justified? But I wonder why I
even ask these questions when I know the terrorists have no remorse or guilt,
that they have died at the hands of the Pakistan Army but their fellow
terrorists are probably dancing around in glee at the “success” of the
operation.
A statement by the spokesperson of the TTP was released in
which he said – “It’s a revenge attack for the army offensive in North
Waziristan.” They were so intent on hurting the Army officials in every way
possible that they entered one room and just asked the children inside to raise
their hands if their fathers were in the Army. All the kids who did were shot
point blank. Such is the barbarism of these animalistic Taliban. Even
animalistic sounds like an unreasonable word to justify them, because even
animals take care of their young.
I heard a statement of one of the elder students who
survived. He said – “the terrorist entered our room and told us to recite the
kalma.” Why did he order them to recite it? Because he wanted to kill them as a
Muslim. Another statement of a father of a martyred child gave me chills down
my spine. He said – “my son went to school in a uniform, and he came back in a kafan.” Another father said – “My child
has not wanted to go to school today, oh how I wish I had listened to him”.
The fact of the matter is this – 130 people have died today
(141 as of the latest count), over a 100 people have been injured, but these
are just statistics for us now. We do not mourn human lives anymore. We do not
have sympathy anymore. We do not feel the pain anymore. We feel horrified
today, but by tomorrow we will have forgotten and we will have moved on to
something else to cry about.
The government has announced a 3-day mourning for the lives
lost. Did they give any thought to the mother whose whole life will not be
spent in mourning? Did they give any thought on the emptiness of the houses of
the families of the deceased? Did they give any thought to the children who
will now be scared of going to school to achieve education? Did they give a
thought to the stress disorders that will haunt the surviving children and their
families, and all of Pakistan for the rest of their lives?
Political leaders have “condemned” the attack. They have
demanded an investigation, and they have asked their officials to increase the
securities of school. But does it make any difference? What use is the security,
now that so many children have lost their lives? What use is the security to
the dead children now? What use is the condemnation which is just a façade to
show to the nation? What use is the investigation which will be left in the
middle of nowhere?
Today is truly a black day. Today is truly a day of
mourning. Today is truly a day when the nation lost their own children, their
own future, and their own next generation. No words said can be meaningful
enough to lessen the excruciating pain of this incident. But I have a prayer –
that may God take His revenge. May God bless the martyrs. May God bless the
affected families. May God burn the terrorists in hell. And may God make
Pakistan, the Land of the Pure – pure from evil, pure from massacres and pure
from terrorists. May God save Pakistan.
