PESHAWAR: Sadeel Ahmed thinks he is living a second life because he survived when militants attacked the Army Public School (APC) in Peshawar on Dec. 16, 2014.
He said the trauma he suffered that day still haunts him, especially on the anniversary of the massacre.
Ahmed recounted his memories of that day to Arab News. “Firing started outside the hall while we were taking a chemistry paper,” he said. “At first, we thought it was army training, but when the intensity of the firing increased, the teachers told us to lock the doors from the inside. But some of the students went outside and were shot dead instantly.”
The 22-year old student said there were 25 pupils inside the hall, but only two of them survived.
“When two gunmen wearing security forces’ attire entered our hall, we thought they were our own army or FC (Frontier Corps) soldiers, but suddenly they started shooting to kill all of us,” he said.
The incident prompted the civil and military leadership of the country to unite and launch a national action plan against terrorism.
However, Fazal Khan, head of the Shuhada-e-APS (Martyrs of APS) Forum, who lost his son Sahibzada Umar in the massacre, told Arab News that parents of the students are not satisfied with the steps taken by the government so far.
After the incident, Khan said, the government should have taken concrete steps to stop terrorism, but cites this year’s attack on the Agriculture Training Institute (ATI) in Peshawar as evidence that it has failed to do so.
“From the day (of the massacre), we have been demanding that an independent judicial commission probe this incident and bring all those responsible for the security lapse to justice, because there was already a threat alert prior to the attack. And this is the army’s own school,” he said. “Questions will continue until a judicial inquiry is conducted and made public.”
The Shuhada-e-APS Forum held a ceremony at Peshawar’s Archives Library on Saturday, inaugurating a monument in memory of the victims of the 2014 attack.
Earlier in the morning, a ceremony was held at the school, attended by victims’ parents, along with Corps Commander Peshawar, Lt. Gen. Nazeer Ahmed Butt.
Civil activists also staged rallies, condemning the 2014 attack.
Malik Tahir Awan, whose son Malik Usama Tahir was killed in the attack, told reporters at the Archives Library that Dec. 16 should be declared a public holiday so that future generations learn about the day that united all of Pakistan against terrorism.
Pakistan’s civil and military leadership drafted a National Action Plan in January 2015 to supplement the country’s anti-terrorism offensive and crackdown on terror networks in northwestern Pakistan.
The country now claims to have largely abolished terrorist bases on its soil and has launched intelligence-based operations in urban centers — as part of Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad — to hunt down terrorist sympathizers and financiers.
However, given the porous 2,430-km border with restive Afghanistan, preventing future atrocities seems a daunting task.
Pakistan remembers Army Public School massacre
Pakistan remembers Army Public School massacre
Belarus frees protest leader Kolesnikova, Nobel winner Bialiatski
- The charismatic Kolesnikova was the star of the 2020 movement that presented the most serious challenge to Lukashenko in his 30-year rule
- Bialiatski — a 63-year-old veteran rights defender and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner — is considered by Lukashenko to be a personal enemy
VILNIUS: Belarusian street protest leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski walked free on Saturday with 121 other political prisoners released in an unprecedented US-brokered deal.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has locked up thousands of his opponents, critics and protesters since the 2020 election, which rights groups said was rigged and which triggered weeks of protests that almost toppled him.
The charismatic Kolesnikova was the star of the 2020 movement that presented the most serious challenge to Lukashenko in his 30-year rule.
She famously ripped up her passport as the KGB tried to deport her from the country.
Bialiatski — a 63-year-old veteran rights defender and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner — is considered by Lukashenko to be a personal enemy. He has documented rights abuses in the country, a close ally of Moscow, for decades.
Bialiatski stressed he would carry on fighting for civil rights and freedom for political prisoners after his surprise release, which he called a “huge emotional shock.”
“Our fight continues, and the Nobel Prize was, I think, a certain acknowledgement of our activity, our aspirations that have not yet come to fruition,” he told media in an interview from Vilnius.
“Therefore the fight continues,” he added.
He was awarded the prize in 2022 while already in jail.
After being taken out of prison, he said he was put on a bus and blindfolded until they reached the border with Lithuania.
His wife, Natalia Pinchuk, told AFP that her first words to him on his release were: “I love you.”
- ‘All be free’ -
Most of those freed, including Kolesnikova, were unexpectedly taken to Ukraine, surprising their allies who had been waiting for all of them in Lithuania.
She called for all political prisoners to be released.
“I’m thinking of those who are not yet free, and I’m very much looking forward to the moment when we can all embrace, when we can all see one another, and when we will all be free,” she said in a video interview with a Ukrainian government agency.
Hailing Bialiatski’s release, the Nobel Committee told AFP there were still more than 1,200 political prisoners inside the country.
“Their continued detention starkly illustrates the ongoing, systemic repression in the country,” said chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said their release should “strengthen our resolve... to keep fighting for all remaining prisoners behind bars in Belarus because they had the courage to speak truth to power.”
Jailed opponents of Lukashenko are often held incommunicado in a prison system notorious for its secrecy and harsh treatment.
There had been fears for the health of both Bialiatski and Kolesnikova while they were behind bars, though in interviews Saturday they both said they felt okay.
The deal was brokered by the United States, which has pushed for prisoners to be freed and offered some sanctions relief in return.
- Potash relief -
An envoy of US President Donald Trump, John Coale, was in Minsk this week for talks with Lukashenko.
He told reporters from state media that Washington would remove sanctions on the country’s potash industry, without providing specific details.
A US official separately told AFP that one American citizen was among the 123 released.
Minsk also freed Viktor Babariko, an ex-banker who tried to run against Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election but was jailed instead.
Kolesnikova was part of a trio of women, including Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who stood against Lukashenko and now leads the opposition in exile, who headed the 2020 street protests.
She was serving an 11-year sentence in a prison colony.
In 2020, security services had put a sack over her head and drove her to the Ukrainian border. But she ripped up her passport, foiling the deportation plan, and was placed under arrest.
Former prisoners from the Gomel prison where she was held have told AFP she was barred from talking to other political prisoners and regularly thrown into harsh punishment cells.
An image of Kolesnikova making a heart shape with her hands became a symbol of anti-Lukashenko protests.
Bialiatski founded Viasna in the 1990s, two years after Lukashenko became president.
