LAHORE: “I will join army and take revenge on terrorists who shot dead my class fellows in front of my eyes at Army Public School, Peshawar auditorium,” said Arbab Karim, a class-X student.

Speaking briefly at a ceremony organised in the honour of APS attack survivors at Punjab University’s Al-Raazi Hall on Wednesday, Karim said he was inside the auditorium when the terrorists broke the door and opened indiscriminate fire at the students. He said he hardly managed to move away from the scene while eight of his class fellows were martyred on the spot.

Arbab Karim’s brother Arbab Zalan, a class-I student, and a survivor of the attack, along with their father Arbab, cousin Arbab Hamza and tutor Zubair were present on the occasion. The delegation was escorted by Zafar Durrani. Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan was also expected to accompany the delegation, but he did not turn up.

Arbab Zalan said he was studying in his class, when his teacher heard gunshots from boys college and asked us to keep quiet. “I also heard gunshots – duzz duzz,” he said. “Later, army men came and they opened the gates for us and we ran out of our classrooms.”

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The survivors’ father said it was highly tough time for him to hear that terrorist attack had taken place in the school and he was not able to reach the school immediately for being in his village. “As I reached the school after crossing many hurdles, it was unbearable to see that Arbab Karim’s clothes were soaked in blood,” he said.

He said the school was littered with young children’s bodies.

Cousin Arbab Hamza said he reached the spot from his medical college and found the children coming out of the school with blood stains on their uniforms. “I continued to wait for Arbab Karim and in sheer dejection also continued seeing children’s bodies,” he said.

Later, PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran lauded the children’s courage and added that the brutal terrorist attack was unique in the history of the world. He stressed the need to think what was lacking in the nation, which was being exploited by the conspirators and terrorists.

Stating that the successive governments had ignored education in Pakistan, he stressed that the nation should struggle to seek quality education to compete in this modern world.

Owing to lack of knowledge, Prof Kamran said 1.5 billion Muslims were powerless in the world because they had no share in creation of new knowledge. He said the NATO was operating the engine of terrorism in the world and using extremists to fulfill their nefarious designs.

Reading a couple of paragraphs from renowned British journalist Richard Cottrell’s book ‘Gladio’, the vice chancellor said the secret agencies of Nato countries were behind the major terrorist incidents in the world like 7/7 and used extremists and religious fanatics as their tool.

Prof Kamran said terrorism could not be eliminated through military operation alone “but we must wipe it out at mental level and curb extremism.”

He regretted that Muslims were far away from the real meaning and interpretations of Islam and had fallen prey to ‘Mullahism.’ “Our enemies are taking benefit of our weaknesses,” he said.

Later, Fateha and Dua was offered for the departed souls and bereaved families.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2015