Tales of devastation, grief, anger…
There would hardly be an event more heartless and violent than the one that happened on 16th December, 2014. The brutal attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar, is one that Pakistan will never forget. The carnage that took place engulfed more than 130 children in its tyranny.
We are approaching the first anniversary of the dark event that took place. It has been a year and the highlights of the event are still fresh in our minds, so is the resolve to crush the radical elements that caused this massacre. DNA collected public feedback in this regard to see where the sentiments of public have reached after a year.
“I should not be raising my kids in this country where parents are not sure what’s going to happen,” said Hamza Iftikhar, an MBA graduate and an employee of a well-known MNC.
This statement somehow envelops the agony of the public in the wake of the attack.
The painful memories
Whenever an incident like APS tragedy occurs, not only the event itself, but our instant response also remains vivid in our minds. The first response of most people was same – horrified and at a loss for words. Such was the magnitude of the tragedy.
Hussaan Tariq, an HR professional based in Karachi, recollects his feelings about the need of getting rid of terrorism.
“Well, for the first time, I really felt the need of elimination of terrorists and their networks across Pakistan,” he recalled. “This incident revealed the extent of their brutality.”
Furqan Ali is a marketing professional based in Lahore. He considers these days to be of a state of trauma for himself.
“It was an emotional trauma and it took me three to four months to recover from the aftershock,” he said.
We are approaching the first anniversary of the dark event that took place. It has been a year and the highlights of the event are still fresh in our minds, so is the resolve to crush the radical elements that caused this massacre
“I was totally traumatised and did not even celebrate the New Year. Many of the families I knew had someone close dead in the attack. So these were the most tragic days of my life.”
And this holds true. Not many of us were expecting the militants to crush school going kids in the cruellest way possible.
Furqan also talked about this fact. With operation Zarb-e-Azb in full swing and reduction of suicidal attacks, he found it very disturbing that this was the step taken by the militants.
“Things were generally getting better,” he explained. “The army operation was there and it seemed like rough patches were getting over. The blasts had reduced in 2013 and 2014 and something so tragic came as a shock. This was therefore very traumatic, unexpected and shocking.”
Khizra Raza, a banker based in Lahore thinks on the same lines. Of course everyone was shocked on this dismal event.
“Obviously it was a sad and tragic incident,” she commented. “Then there were a lot of pictures displayed publically which showed a lot of bloodshed. And at one point, it became pretty sad. Our inquisitive nature was making it worse, because obviously the media was showing a lot of details like going inside APS, lots of blood and then the piles of dead bodies. It was very devastating.”
Hamza is getting married soon, and for someone like him, the most disturbing event was the fact that this country is maybe no longer safe for kids to be brought up. With schools being targeted, there was hardly any hope left.
“I was devastated and it was shocking for me,” he stated. “The fact dawned on me that schools are being targeted and young kids are under threat. I realised that every age group is insecure in this country and under constant threat. The scenes were simply heart-breaking. After a certain time certain blame games started of the nature that this happened due to XYZ reasons.”
No matter how hard we try to explain our feelings, or to analyse and contextualise the situation, one does not find words suitable to explain this grief. APS attack was surely something that saddened the entire nation indiscriminately. This was such a brutal and heinous act that the feelings go unexplained. What left is a sense of wonder, and shock that how could humanity stoop so low.
The resolve
What we started off with was grief, and sorrow. However what we proceeded with was more than that. The narrative of the nation was totally converted. People swore revenge and the armed forces were mobilised. Pakistanis woke up from their slumber and were motivated and determined to get rid of the termite of terrorism.
Our respondents also had the same feelings.
“After a certain time, you start thinking with depth rather than emotions,” Hamza explained this situation really well. “And my thoughts were to crush, kill and even mince the terrorists. I wanted these brutes to be hanged publicly.”
Furqan also pointed out the fact that how soft line approach became largely irrelevant and being vocal about the issue at hand became the need of the hour.
“Obviously there are certain factors that promote this,” he began his analysis. “We know there is radicalisation. We know there is a clergy that indirectly supports it. Earlier we knew we did not have to be too vocal about it. But after this event people got more active and decided that campaigning against radicalisation and hate speech is a must. Since these brutes don’t even care about killing kids. I was already campaigning and became more active on social media and twitter. There still are people who have a soft corner for the militants and it is important to clarify to them that nothing would be tolerated.”
A very prominent fallout of the tragedy was lifting the moratorium on the death penalty. This was condemned by various bodies across the globe. However, Pakistan stood true to its resolve of getting rid of terrorism, by hook or by crook, and this did include the death penalty. But does the public agree?
“The death penalty was condemned, but it was right,” Hamza gave his thoughts. “Even in Islam it’s an eye for an eye and a head for a head. So this means that these terrorists had earned the death penalty. And of course these people whom we had been keeping in jails for many years need to face the gallows.”
Right now, fighting is important, and this means multi-faceted fighting.
“We have to fight on various fronts,” Furqan said. “Verbal could be one. Being a part of a National Action Plan is another.”
Another important aspect of this analysis is how deeply the army got involved and the honour that Pakistan Army is generally awarded by the people of Pakistan.
“The operation being carried out by the army has given hope for peace to the people of Pakistan,” Hussaan lauded our armed forces. “The success achieved is once again a proof of professional excellence of our armed forces.”
Success? Well it is not really black and white. Obviously some loopholes were there which manifested itself in the form of Shuja Khanzada’s assassination, so how can we be so sure? Hussaan thinks it is more about the process and the resolve.
Does a common Pakistani feel more assured of his safety now? Hussaan agrees that the citizens feel better about their security having a look at all the recent efforts
“Something is better than nothing under all circumstances,” he asserted. “So whether 100 percent effective or not, but I do support the government’s anti-terrorism policy. To see the government and political elite committed to eradicate terrorism in all its capacities should be supported.”
So yes, one major impact of APS tragedy was the unification of the entire nation in eradicating terrorism.
Not just another event
APS was not a regular terrorist incident. It was different. It was mourned all over the world. Khizra really appreciates the fact that Pakistani media, through its narrative, made it clear to the entire world that Pakistan is one of the biggest victims of terrorism itself and hence the do-more mantra needs to be dropped.
“The whole world mourned, because for the first time, we actually showed the extent of how tragic the event was and how badly terrorism affects us,” she pointed out.
“We had not projected our losses like this earlier, and that is why we were always misrepresented by the west as a sanctuary for terrorists and not their victim. We did tell the world that this was as bad as 9/11 or Mumbai Attacks or the recent Paris Attack.”
And while the army was already mobilised, the crackdown operation gained impetus and this was something badly needed.
“The army operation was already there, and the say of the army on important matters like defence and foreign policy was there,” Hamza acknowledged. “However things got catalysed after the APS attack. A sense of urgency was invoked and it is good to see the anti-terrorism operation gaining momentum.”
Therefore, if we try looking at the incident from a positive aperture then we gained two major benefits; firstly our resolve to get rid of militancy became stronger; and secondly, the west went a bit easy on the blame game.
Do we feel safer today?
Now that is the most important question. Does a common Pakistani feel more assured of his safety now? Hussaan agrees that the citizens feel better about their security having a look at all the recent efforts.
“Everyone feels safer after the operations,” he opined. “It’s not just the name of operation that has improved the perception of security situation in the country, but the actual outcome that has been achieved. Our cities are safer now. Being a Karachi’ite, the operation in Karachi alone has reinstated law and order which, at one stage, had become a dream for every citizen.”
So hopefully, those pictures and news stories from APS are enough to ignite the masses to stand firm for the eradication of terrorism from our society.
