‘RIP, meaning Return If Possible’

Children leave messages for their departed friends outside APS.

PESHAWAR: The heart of children. That’s where universal humanity lies, uncluttered by deep-rooted biases and social cues.

As thousands made their way to Army Public School between Wednesday night and Thursday to pay their respects, messages left by students in memory of their mates threw in stark relief how hardened adults emote and how the innocents grieve with hope. Hand-written on pages torn from notebooks, pleas painted on poster paper, these messages were strung outside the school which witnessed the death of at least 148 unsuspecting students and staffers.

“I wish you RIP, meaning Return If Possible”, an APS student had scribbled next to pictures of his friends who had died on December 16. The note ended with a “We miss you” and a sad smiley. His acute heartbreak echoed with a hope only childhood can bring.

Trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy without the ability to contextualise barbarity, the thoughts of children strung together anguish, hope, anger and a way forward without skipping a beat.

Daud, a student, wanted his friends back, “I miss you all,” said his message. He asked the Pakistan Army to kill all Taliban terrorists to protect his loved ones who were obviously never so unsafe, in his thoughts, as after the tragedy so close to home. “Stop it, don’t kill our loved ones, “another child had scribbled.

“O terrorists! What do you think? Because of your brutality, we will give up? Never ever. Salute to the innocents,” was printed in black marker by the pharmacy department of University of Peshawar, under hashtags of ‘black day’ and ‘16Dec14’. “I will go tell Allah all of this” was written underneath on another sheet.

“Our children are brave! We are not afraid,” wrote another.

As the ‘grown-ups’ form committees to form committees, children suggest solutions which could have been implemented decades ago.

“I don’t want revenge on the Taliban. I want education for sons and daughters of Taliban,” read a neatly inked A4 sheet plastered on a pillar with garlands and earthen oil lamps.

The tributes and messages were not limited to the city. Students of Khyber Agency reached APS in droves. Some broke down and wept while others shouted slogans before they decorated the school’s gate with flowers.

“We can understand the grief through which the city is passing through,” Khalid Shinwari told The Express Tribune, his eyes full of tears. “How a human being can kill innocent children?”.

Students also offered prayers outside the school for peace and stability in the country. This was also an attack on education, they said.

“They try to take books from our hands,” said Saleem Khan, another young student. “This is an attack on education as only education can foil their evil desires.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2014.