AFP
Thousands of Pakistanis flocked to a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar yesterday to mourn the 149 people — mainly children — massacred by the Taliban and demand action against militants.
Men, women and children from Peshawar and other cities visited the army-run institution to offer prayers for those killed in the country’s deadliest-ever terror attack.
Pakistan has described Tuesday’s bloody rampage as its own “mini 9/11”, calling it a game-changer in the fight against extremism.
Mourners placed flowers, bouquets, placards and lighted candles in front of photos of murdered students.
Masons laid bricks and poured cement to raise the height of the wall around the Army Public School as mourners chanted slogans such as “Death to terrorists”, “Long live Pakistan army”, “The blood of martyrs will not go waste” and “Taliban are savages”.
“What kind of a person can kill a child?” asked local resident Imdad Hussain, who came to pray for the children. “What kind of justice is this, what kind of Islam is this?” he asked, urging the government swiftly to wipe out terrorists.
A local woman, her face covered with a shawl, said parents had thought their sons and daughters would be safe in school. But now they believed their children were not safe anywhere.
“First they attacked mosques, then markets and now they have started attacking schools. We cannot tolerate this. We can die, but we will not let our children be killed,” she said.
Shugufta Bibi, 28, told AFP her friend lost his son in Tuesday’s attack and she had come to pay respects to his memory.
“I demand that the government close in on the terrorists and hang them in public,” Bibi said.
Tributes and condolences poured in on social media websites Facebook and Twitter.
The city’s Christian community will cancel Christmas celebrations and will just hold a service on December 25, said the Rev Patrick John of All Saints Church.
The school massacre has been condemned even by the Afghan Taliban, who are loosely affiliated with the Taliban in Pakistan.
Pakistan put all its airports on red alert on Saturday as the military intensified operations against militants in the northwestern tribal areas.
The Taliban said the school attack by a suicide squad was revenge for the killing of militants’ families in that offensive.
The military has since June been waging the assault against longstanding Taliban and other militant strongholds.
But a series of fresh strikes since the Peshawar attack, in which dozens of alleged militants were killed, suggest the campaign is being stepped up.
The army has also been deployed to guard major prisons housing militants. Officials have said there would be up to ten more executions in coming days.
Counselling for traumatised children
The Peshawar incident in which Taliban attacked a school killing over 130 children last week has not only traumatised children who survived the massacre but their families and other children as well.
The Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) has prepared counselling sessions on “post-traumatic stress management” for the children who survived the attack. In the second phase, the facility will be offered to students of other schools of the country.
According to an official statement, sessions will be held with students, their families and teachers, which would help them recover from the shock.
After co-ordination with key stakeholders, the National Health Services ministry has notified a committee comprising members from mental health and non-communicable disease co-ordination cell of the ministry, Army Medical Crops, psychiatrists from Islamabad and Peshawar, WHO collaborating centre and Unicef.
The committee held an emergency meeting with an objective to preparing a counselling sessions plan. Moreover, information, education and communication (IEC) material, messages, modules on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder would be made available for public.
Another objective of the committee is to develop strategy to mitigate effects of the incident through media.
It was decided that the required plan would be finalised by the ministry in consultation with Prof Dr Farid Minhas of WHO collaborating centre and Prof Rizwan Taj of Pims, while Unicef would be providing relevant support.
Dr Assad Hafeez, the executive director, Health Services Academy, said over the weekend all students of the country had been affected by the unfortunate incident.
“The army team which has been carrying out rehabilitation activities in Army Public School, Peshawar, contacted the NHS ministry and sought counselling facility for the traumatised children and families,” he said.
“We still have experts who did post-trauma counselling of the survivors of 2005 earthquake in Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other areas of the country,” he said.
Hafeez said: “The ministry has decided to form a committee which in the first phase will provide counselling to survivors of Army Public School Peshawar. In the second phase, the committee members will provide counselling to other children,” he said.
