It was just a normal day at NUST, Islamabad. After having my breakfast at the hostel mess, I was standing near the window of my room and enjoying the bright sunshine of a cold winter morning. At midday around 12 noon, there was a lot of helicopter movement from east to west along the Peshawar road. Helicopters were flying low and their number in the sky was increasing very rapidly. I sensed something abnormal, but was not able to reach any conclusion. Suddenly most of the students in the hostel rooms were rushing towards the TV lounge. Meanwhile, I received a call on my cell phone from a close friend who was calling from the TV lounge asking me to come down immediately.
I reached the TV lounge, which was packed to capacity, and all eyes were glued to the TV screen. There was pin drop silence and we all were shocked to see the live coverage of that barbarian act against the innocent school children. Initial reports were misleading and different channels were giving different figures for the innocent shaheeds of the Army Public School, Peshawar. Most of the students present in the lounge especially those from KP had tears in their eyes and some were calling their relatives back in Peshawar, whose children or relatives were in the same school.
As the news poured in from different reporters of different channels, we came to know that a few terrorists entered the school around about 11 am and after killing three security guards, they started indiscriminate firing as well as throwing hand bombs. They killed as many as 132 students and 10 school staff members including the principal.
The government and security agencies acted promptly and cordoned the school. After the arrival of security personnel, the rest of the school students and staff were rescued and most of the terrorists were killed and a few managed to run away. The attack on the innocent school children by the terrorists was not only condemned by the Pakistani nation but by the whole world. Even school children in whole of India were asked to observe two-minute silence after the school assembly to show solidarity with the Peshawar school students. This particular terrorist attack united the whole nation and an action against the terrorists was considered necessary and without any delay.
The prime minister announced that we shall take revenge for each blood drop of the school children while the Army Chief said that these terrorists have attacked on our nation’s heart and we shall not spare these cruel animals. The prime minister said that this is the time that the whole nation should stand against the terrorists and there should be no difference of opinion regarding the anti-terrorist operation.
December 16 is a dark day in the history of Pakistan. We lost East Pakistan in 1971 and on the same date in 2014, we suffered a heavy blow by the terrorists in Peshawar. We as a nation had the courage to bear this great loss but it also gave us the determination to fight terrorism for our own good sake. We Pakistanis, living in any part of Pakistan want to live in peace, want to progress in all fields of life and believe in live and let live.
December 17 2014 was observed as a national mourning day around the country. All the national newspapers had this story on the front page. Myself being a student of mass communication, I almost go through all the newspapers daily in the morning and it was very painful for me to go through those tearful stories. The statements of parents who had lost their dear ones and the statements of the injured students who had seen this massacre with their own eyes were very painful. Even the photographs published were proving that a single photograph is equal to one thousand words
Quaid-e-Azam said, “To determine to succeed is the surest way to success”. We believe in it and we are sure that we will bring peace to our land and people.
