PESHAWAR:
Eleven years have passed since terrorists stormed Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar, but time has failed to dull the pain. For parents who buried their children, for siblings who grew up without brothers and sisters, December remains the coldest and longest month, weighed down by memory.
On December 16, 2014, terrorists turned a place of learning into a killing field, murdering 147 people, including 132 students, along with women teachers and school staff. More than 150 others were wounded in the attack that shook the nation to its core.
Among the dead were school principal Tahira Qazi and several teachers who stood between the attackers and their students, sacrificing their lives in desperate acts of protection.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, a martyrs’ memorial was built inside APS to honour those who were killed. Each year, families of the martyrs gather at the site to pay tribute, while a formal salute is also presented in remembrance of the victims.
On Tuesday (today), the 11th anniversary of the APS tragedy will be observed with ceremonies at the school, while families across the country will hold Quran recitations and special prayers in their homes.
‘She had left home happily’
As the anniversary approaches, painful memories continue to surface. A deeply emotional message by Altaf Hussain, the father of a young APS student who was martyred in the attack, has gone viral on social media.
In his post, he recalled that his daughter had left home happily, clutching her books, on her first day of school, but never returned.
“She went to school with books in her hands and came back wrapped in a shroud,” he wrote, adding that although years have passed, the pain remains fresh and many questions still linger. He said he would never allow the sacrifices of his daughter and other martyrs to go in vain and urged the nation to choose unity, patience and humanity over hatred and despair.
“The memories of the APS martyrs remind Pakistanis that no matter how great the cruelty, courage and compassion are stronger,” he added.
‘My soul left with him’
Another heartbreaking story is that of Muhammad Ali, a ninth-grade student and the only son of his parents, who was critically wounded in the attack and later succumbed to his injuries in hospital the same day. The government later awarded him the Sitara-e-Jurat in recognition of his bravery.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Muhammad Ali’s father said that as December draws closer each year, the pain deepens. “There is pride in my son’s sacrifice, but the sorrow of his absence can never fade,” he said. His mother shared that after losing her son, only her body remains, her soul left with him. “There is not a single moment when I do not remember him,” she said, adding that her only prayer was that Pakistan never witnesses such a December again.
More than a decade on, time has not erased the loss of the victims’ families. However, neither has it diluted the resolve sustained by memory and the immense pride, and carried forward in the belief that the dead will not be forgotten, but their sacrifice will not be reduced to a date on the calendar.
In the days that followed the massacre, international media described the attack as Pakistan’s “9/11”, a shorthand for a wound that went beyond numbers, cutting deep into the Pakistanis’ collective psyche.
Pakistan Army Special Services Group commandos launched a rescue operation that killed all six terrorists and evacuated 960 people from the besieged campus.
The deliberate targeting of children had marked a rupture. National outrage spilled into policy, giving rise to the National Action Plan, an attempt to dismantle militant networks and reclaim the state’s authority. Commentators drew grim parallels with the 2004 Beslan school siege in Russia.
Similarly, the moratorium on the death penalty was lifted, military courts were authorised through constitutional amendment, and counterterrorism operations were intensified in the northwest. On December 2, 2015, four militants linked to the APS attack were executed. Two others had died during the siege itself. The attack’s mastermind, Omar Khorasani, was killed in Afghanistan in August 2022. In August 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of two additional convicts.
The military’s media wing released a series of tribute songs, including “Bara Dushman Bana Phirta Hai”, “Mujhe Dushman Ke Bachon Ko Parhana Hai” and “Humain Agay Hi Jana Hai”, giving voice to grief and defiance in equal measure.
