A year has passed by since December 16, 2014-the fateful day when a group of vicious terrorists attacked and ruthlessly killed 141 innocent souls including 132 absolutely innocuous children of the Army Public School, Peshawar. Those men, women and children who were shamelessly massacred on this fateful day didn’t know from Adams what fate had in store for them on this tragic day.
Unambiguously, the tragic happening at APS Peshawar on December 16 last year has no parallel in recent history. It left not only the next to kin of those who lost their valuable lives in the catastrophe but the entire Pakistani nation and the whole world in a state of shock and awe. Even today, after a lapse of one year, when we are reminded of the martyrs of APS Peshawar our hearts profusely bleed and our eyes shed tears of sorrow. It compels us to conclude that the perpetrators of this heinous crime couldn’t have been human beings. They were a group of vicious and senseless people who took the lives of totally harmless souls for no rhyme or reason.
It may not be appropriate to say that the APS Peshawar tragedy of December 16, 2014 also had a positive aspect to it but the fact of the matter is it did. The sacrifices made by the martyrs of APS brought a divided nation together on one platform. It, in fact, brought a drastic change in the thoughts and attitude of all political factions of the country in particular and the entire society in generally. It made the leaders of every political party converge at one point, regardless of their political wrangling and differences, and vociferously condemn, in strongest terms, the act of brutality committed by the terrorists at APS. Not only this, it also impelled the armed forces of the country and the entire nation to renew its pledge to fight the terrorists with greater conviction and uproot the menace of terrorism from the soil of this country for all times to come. We undoubtedly had to pay a huge price, sacrificed 141valuable lives, to arrive at this moment in time but thank God we did.
No one could agree more with Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif who, while addressing a mammoth assembly organized in Peshawar on December 16, 2015 to mark the first anniversary of APS massacre, said ‘we will avenge every drop of blood and nobody will be allowed, under any circumstances, to play with country’s peace’. Terming the APS attack ‘an incident that shook the entire nation’ the PM announced December 16 as the day of ‘national educational resolve’. He also announced the construction of APS Shuhada University to acknowledge the unparalleled sacrifices of the innocent students of APS. The Prime Minister has also approved a proposal of naming 122 government schools of Islamabad after the Shuhadas of APS. Whatever has been announced by the Prime Minister is truly praiseworthy. Undeniably, however, this is the least we could do for the martyrs of APS and their families.
M FAZAL ELAHI
Islamabad
