Sleep in heavenly peace: Martyred students laid to rest at ancestral villages

‘My son’s dream did not materialise’.

LAHORE: Five children from the Punjab who were killed at Army Public School, Peshawar, on Tuesday were laid to rest on Wednesday amid tears and prayers of thousands of citizens in their hometowns across the province.

Muhammad Tahir, 15, a student of grade 10 was buried at his ancestral village Kot Abdullah in Nankana. Tahir had three sisters. The Nankana DCO, DPO and MPAs Malik Tariq Zulqarnain Dogar and Tariq Bajwa participated in the funeral prayers. Hundreds of residents of the area attended the funeral and laid wreaths and flowers at his grave.



Umair Arshad, 16, of grade 9 was buried at Habibpura Bhatawala grave yard in Kamoke. His father, Havaldar Muhammad Arshad said that his son had wanted to become an officer in the Pakistan Army. “His dream did not materialise,” he said.

Shahzeb, a student of grade 8, was buried at his ancestral village Qila Kallarwala, Pasrur, in district Sialkot.  Khushnood, a student of grade 8, was laid to rest in Dogriwala village, Daska, in Sialkot district. Khushnood’s elder brother Aftab, a student of grade 10, was injured in the gory incident at Army Public School.

Hamid Saif, a student of class 10, was laid to rest at Khatak Kotola Mangli graveyard in Kalabagh, district Mianwali. Mianwali DCO Mujahid Akbar, GFC Brigadier Wajid Qayum Piracha, Assistant Commissioner Essakhel Fazal and hundreds of residents of the area attended the funeral prayers. Saif’s father Saifullah Khan said the incident had only resolved the country’s resolve not to bow before terrorist elements. “We will face them bravely.”

Prayers from afar

Thousands of people offered funeral prayers for the martyred children at Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Simbrial, Wazirabad, Sukhayki, Mandi Bahauddin and Shakkargarh. They expressed solidarity with the families of the decease and condemned the attack. Students and civil society organisations held demonstrations and vigils across the province in remembrance of the martyred children. They demanded that the government arrest those behind the attack.

They said that the incident had united the country in its grief and had strengthened its resolve to eliminate terrorist elements.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2014.