‘I still believe he will come home’

APS victims' family say they have been threatened by Taliban for speaking about attack, which killed one of their...

The morning of December 16, 2014, still haunts Muhammad Nawaz. His 14-year-old son Haris begged his father to let him stay home from school as his mother was away but Muhammad insisted he had to go “otherwise he would lose marks.”

He lost his life that day, as militants launched an attack on the school, killing over 150 people, including 133 students.

Read: Our darkest hour

“We argued, I said he had to go to school. It kills me to think about it,” his father told the Mirror.

Haris’ friends told his family that he was running away with them but turned back, saying he couldn’t leave his friend behind. “This is when he was shot through his head and mouth. His friend did not survive either,” the grieving father said. “To this day I cannot believe it. I still believe he will come home.”

Muhammad’s eldest son, however, managed to escape the attack but not unscathed. Ahmed, 15, was injured during the brutal attack and recently underwent a successful operation in the United Kingdom last week. His operation took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and was reportedly 12-hour-long during which doctors treated his injured veins and installed steel plates in his body to support his back.

Read: Injured APS student undergoes successful operation in UK

“Ahmad has told us as he lay on the floor pretending to be dead. He saw the terrorists throw chemicals on his teacher and set her alight. She was crying ‘Save me’. He watched her burn until she was black like a coal,” the father quoted his son as saying.

Read: Peshawar school attack: PM Nawaz approves Rs30.6m for treatment of injured student



Ahmad (middle) with Haris (left) who was killed in the attack and his other brother Umar (right). PHOTO: MIRROR

 

Muhammed, who runs a small business in Pakistan, first heard of the attack when a relative rang him around 11am. As he ran to the school, he saw paramedics putting bodies on the ground, all of their faces slashed.

“I saw children with no heads, executed. Later I learnt the hospital stitched the heads back on before they returned the children to their parents.”

Muhammad and his wife Samina, 36 told the Mirror: “Every day our son says, ‘Why did I survive and not Haris?’

“He does not seem satisfied until he has cried every day.”

 



PHOTO: MIRROR

 

Muhammad buried Haris the morning after the attack, but did not tell Ahmad. However, he found out 15 days later through Facebook.

“He was very angry, he cried we had lied to him,” the father added. “But we feared for his health.”

 



PHOTO: MIRROR

 

When medics in Pakistan could no longer offer Ahmad the care he needed, government officials offered to fund his treatment in the UK and the family arrived a fortnight ago.

Doctors at Lady Reading Hospital where Ahmad was admitted advised his parents to shift him to another facility as the injuries on his arm could not be treated at LRH and they feared he might lose his limb.

 



The aftermath of the school attack. PHOTO: AFP

 

Following this, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved Rs30.6 million for his treatment and Ahmad along with his family was sent to Birmingham.

“If he is able physically and mentally he wants to continue his education and join the army,” his father told the Mirror.

 



Journalists take pictures in the Army Public School in Peshawar after the brutal attack by the Taliban that left over a 100 children dead. PHOTO: AFP

 

Muhammad also revealed that the family has received death threats from the Taliban as they have spoken about the attack.

“They telephoned me. First they threatened to blow up the ward where Ahmad was in Peshawar so the hospital had to move him every day,” he said.

“Then they threatened to blow up the vehicle we were to travel in to Islamabad. It is too early to know yet whether we will ever return home.”

Ahmad’s mother added, “These men do not deserve to be called Muslim – they do not deserve to be called human.

"They are wild animals, and when we are all together against them, the whole world, only then will we beat them.”