Against all odds: Injured but determined to teach

Islamiat lecturer Shazia Bibi was caught in crossfire in university attack

CHARSADDA:

It was 8:45am Wednesday when Shazia Bibi was caught in the crossfire.

She tried to find a way to escape but could not figure out which direction the incessant firing was coming from, leaving her no space to find cover.

So Shazia Bibi ran towards the staircase, where she was hit.

Talking to Express News at District Headquarters Hospital Charsadda on Thursday, the Islamiat lecturer at Bacha Khan University, Shazia Bibi said even though she was injured, she managed to reach the roof of the building where she hid till the sounds of firing faded away. It was only then that she ran out, determined to survive.



Shazia Bibi is a survivor. A day after the trauma as the shock receded, she broke her silence to share her story. When asked about her condition, she quietly replied, “I managed to survive”.

Even though she witnessed a bloodbath previously only heard of, the young lecturer wants to continue what she
does – teach.

Shazia Bibi was paid a visit by the families of those killed in the Army Public School attack in Peshawar on December 16, 2014 – a gesture of solidarity.

It was a moving scene; those who continue to face the daily grief of living with loss reaching out to someone who survived unlike their own loved ones. Shazia Bibi told the families, her resolve to educate was stronger than before.

“I am not scared,” she told the media, who have been camping out in Charsadda district for the last forty or more hours. “Once classes resume, I will work even harder to spread the light of education.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd,  2016.