To commemorate the sixth anniversary of the tragic Army Public School (APS) attack which has been termed as the deadliest act of terrorism in Pakistan’s history, survivor Ahmad Nawaz said that he will never forget that dark day.
The 19-year-old survivor, who was taken to the UK for treatment after the attack and is now a student at the Oxford University in Britain, said that his wounds become fresh on December 16 each year.
“The way I saw my teachers and classmates being martyred and the way I later witnessed many of my injured friends at the hospital, I can never forget the incident,” he said.
Nawaz added that the APS attack is a national tragedy, something that the Pakistani nation will never be able to erase from its memories.
“The APS attack of 2014 not only haunts the families that lost their loved ones, but it was also a huge loss to Pakistan because so many of its talented youngsters were martyred,” he said. “It is indeed a black day for Pakistan.
‘Seeking education a slap on the faces of terrorists’
Speaking about how he coped with the trauma of the incident, Nawaz said that after losing his brother, teachers, and many of his friends in the attack, he decided to respond to the incident by committing himself to the cause of education.
“When I saw my parents and families of all those who lost their loved ones suffering, I asked myself what could be done so that such incidents never happen to us again?” he said.
Nawaz said he decided to excel in his studies because being committed to the cause of education is itself a “slap on the faces of the terrorists.”
Only way to honour APS martyrs
Nawaz also took to his Twitter account and wrote that the only way Pakistanis can truly honour the martyrs of APS is by ensuring that such incidents do not happen again.
“Every year, we must ask ourselves a question: What have we done to ensure such atrocities never happen again?” he wrote. “That’s the only way to honour the #APSMartyrs.”
