Students stand alone to remember martyrs

SHABQADAR: The silence at the campus of Bacha Khan University was deafening. On the second anniversary of the terrorist attack which left 22 people dead, mostly students, no official function was held at the varsity to mark the gruesome incident.

Even though the attack had claimed the life of 17 students and a professor among three other staffers, it was only the varsity’s students who did anything to remember their fallen comrades on Saturday.

They observed a black day and criticised the university’s administration, the provincial government and the Charsadda district administration for ignoring Bacha Khan University’s (BKU) martyred students. With the anniversary falling on a weekend, the university was officially closed and visitors were not allowed inside. Only students living at the on-campus hostel were allowed to enter the campus.

The Student Action Committee, which regularly holds events to remember the martyrs of the 2016 attack, gathered at the main lawns of the university and offered fateha and recited passages from the Holy Quran. Later, they gathered at the main gate of the university to observe a silent protest against what they termed was a snub to the martyrs.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2018.