Children in Peshawar Go Back to School that Experienced Deadly Shooting
The Pakistani school where a deadly shooting took place sees pupils returning with shaken parents. It was a terrorist attack that killed 150 children in the city of Peshawar, seven Taliban militants were responsible for the murders that shocked a nation. Stricter security was implemented when students returned, as well as at schools around the country since the attack.
Parents are still reeling from the fateful day, father Abid Ali Shah is still grieving over the death of his wife who was killed in the school. He gets his sons ready for school, a task his wife used to handle, and comments on the drastic change in their lives, “A hollowness in my life is getting greater. I am missing my wife. Everything is ruined here, everything.” Both of Shah’s sons were in the midst of the shooting, his youngest son was shot in the head but survived as militants believed him to be dead.
The eldest son Sitwat Ali Shah, aged 17, broke into tears along with his brother as they prepared to go to back to the school. He admitted both of them struggle to sleep and sometimes wake up crying for their mother. However he was adamant in going back and fulfilling his ambition of becoming an air force officer, he added, “Those who have done all this to all of us cannot be called humans.”
Schools around Pakistan have raised their boundary walls, stationed armed guards and installed metal detectors, although the question is raised as to why it took such a horrific attack to focus attention on school safety.
Military operations in tribal areas have been enforced and the death penalty has been reinstated allowing military courts to try civilians. These measures have been put into place to crack down on terrorism. In Peshawar, media and vehicles were kept hundreds of meters (yards) away from the Army Public School, and two helicopters circled overhead. The chief of Pakistan’s army Gen. Raheel Sharif, was present with his wife to greet and console the students.
Teacher Andleeb Aftab who lost her 10th grade son, Huzaifa, in the attack, came in a black dress and head scarf. She said she chose to go back to school rather than stay at home and continue to mourn. “I have come here because the other kids are also my kids,” she said. “I will complete the dreams of my son, the dreams I had about my son, by teaching other students.”
Ahmed Nawaz, aged 15, said he was in continuous pain as his wounded left arm was still receiving treatment, but he was compelled to return to school. He had one message for the militants, “We are not scared of you.”
