"Kalma parh lo!" - these would probably have been the last words that the children of APS and Bacha Khan University would've heard.

Thirteen bombers entered Pakistan from Afghanistan, resulting in all the schools of Punjab having been closed. The news channels are constantly updating us about the red alert. Recently, Bahauddin Zakkaria University, UET, BNU and LCWU have decided to shut down as well, since they cannot risk the precious lives of the youth of this country. 

I have a question for all the institutions that are still not closing down, what do they actually want? Do they want the prime minister's statement "Iss saanhay ki PM Nawaz Sharif shadeed muzzamat kartay hain" again, or do they want more ‘martyrs’?

What about the social media hype created by putting up display pictures saying "they went to study, and never returned"? Or the news channels discoloring their logos? How about announcing a holiday to celebrate the grief of another black day? 

Education is our right but we are not bound to fight for our lives to get it. We are not at war. Where is the system? Whose responsibility is it to make sure that horrendous incidents like these won't be repeated?

I am really sorry but our hearts are not strong enough to witness anything remotely similar again. Our mothers are not so strong to bear such losses again. We were not raised to be killed brutally by the terrorists. Our parents have invested their time, love and hope in us. They have dreamt of a secure and successful future for us.

How can we prosper? Where is the thing called "peace of mind"? How can we study in such circumstances when we are not sure that what's going to happen the very next moment? How would we grow, as individuals – as a nation? 

I, hereby plead all those institutes who are determined not to close down. It is not about the holidays, it’s about our lives. Please think about us, our lives, our families and our future. Please close down until things get better, because we don't want PM's condemnations, nationwide mournings or those heart-wrenching posts on the social media once again. We don’t want all those candle vigils, or two minute silences.

We deserve better. We want the authorities to ensure a secure future for us and the upcoming generations. And by ‘securing future’ I don’t mean to get rescued by the West – like they did in Malala’s case. Why couldn’t we provide security to Malala in her own homeland? Was sending her to UK the only possible solution? Certainly not.

I want the authorities to take as much time as they want to make the security arrangements up to the mark. I am sure that the ‘martyrs’ of APS and BKU would be happier that way. They wouldn’t want any other student to embrace death, like they did.

We demand an immediate action from our government. As they say "preventation is better than cure".

We don’t want to be ‘martyred’ as cover up for state failures. Don’t make our schools battlefields for your proxy wars.