PESHAWAR:
Eleven years have passed since terrorists stormed the Military Public School (APS) in Peshawar, but time has failed to dull the pain. For parents who buried their children, for brothers and sisters who grew up without brothers and sisters, December remains the coldest and longest month, weighed down by memory.
On December 16, 2014, terrorists transformed a place of education into a battlefield, murdering 147 people, including 132 students, as well as teachers and school staff. More than 150 other people were injured in this attack which deeply shook the country.
Among the dead were the school’s principal, Tahira Qazi, and several teachers who stood between the attackers and their students, sacrificing their lives in desperate acts of protection.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, a Martyrs’ Memorial was built within the APS to honor those who were killed. Every year, the families of the martyrs gather at the site to pay their respects, while a formal salute is also given in memory of the victims.
On Tuesday (today), the 11th anniversary of the APS tragedy will be marked with ceremonies at the school, while families across the country will hold Quran recitations and special prayers in their homes.
“She left home happy”
As the anniversary approaches, painful memories continue to resurface. A deeply moving message from Altaf Hussain, the father of a young APS student martyred in the attack, has gone viral on social media.
In his message, he recalled that his daughter left home happy, books in hand, on the first day of school, but never returned.
“She went to school with books in her hands and came back wrapped in a shroud,” he wrote, adding that even though the years have passed, the pain remains fresh and many questions remain. He said he would never allow the sacrifices of his daughter and other martyrs to be in vain and urged the nation to choose unity, patience and humanity over hatred and despair.
“The memories of the APS martyrs remind Pakistanis that no matter how great the cruelty, courage and compassion are stronger,” he added.
“My soul went with him”
Another heartbreaking story is that of Muhammad Ali, a ninth-grade student and his parents’ only son, who was seriously injured in the attack and succumbed to his injuries in hospital the same day. The government later awarded him the Sitara-e-Jurat in recognition of his courage.
Speaking to The Express PK Press Club, Muhammad Ali’s father said that as December approaches every year, the pain deepens. “There is pride in my son’s sacrifice, but the sorrow of his absence can never fade,” he said. His mother shared that after losing her son, only his body remained, his soul remaining with him. “There is not a single moment that I do not remember him,” she said, adding that her only prayer was that Pakistan would never witness such a December again.
More than a decade later, time has not erased the loss of the victims’ families. However, this has not diluted the determination sustained by memory and immense pride, and carried by the conviction that the dead will not be forgotten, but that their sacrifice will not be reduced to a date written on the calendar.
In the days following the massacre, international media described the attack as Pakistan’s “9/11,” shorthand for a wound that went beyond numbers and deeply affected the collective psyche of Pakistanis.
Commandos of the Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group launched a rescue operation that killed the six terrorists and evacuated 960 people from the besieged campus.
The deliberate targeting of children marked a break. National outrage spilled over into politics, giving rise to the National Action Plan, an attempt to dismantle activist networks and regain state authority. Commentators have drawn dark parallels with the Beslan school siege in Russia in 2004.
Likewise, the moratorium on the death penalty was lifted, military courts were authorized by a constitutional amendment, and counterterrorism operations were intensified in the northwest. On December 2, 2015, four activists linked to the APS attack were executed. Two others had died during the siege itself. The mastermind of the attack, Omar Khorasani, was killed in Afghanistan in August 2022. In August 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of two other convicts.
The army’s media wing released a series of tribute songs, including ‘Bara Dushman Bana Phirta Hai’, ‘Mujhe Dushman Ke Bachon Ko Parhana Hai’ and ‘Humain Agay Hi Jana Hai’, expressing grief and defiance in equal measure.
