MANSEHRA: The students of a local private girls college on Saturday staged a drama to pay homage to the Army Public School Peshawar students and staff members, who were massacred by the militants in December last year, for bravery.

The performers got a standing ovation from the participations, including students and their mothers, who gathered at the Fatimatuz Zohra Girls Postgraduate College to mark the 11th annual mothers’ day.

The students also showered praise on the army soldiers taking part in the Zarb-i-Azb military operation against militants, by performing skits and tableaus and delivering speeches in both English and Urdu.

They criticised the politics of corruption, inflation, energy crisis and terrorism in their performances.

The students parodied politicians, including Asif Zardari, Imran Khan, Altaf Hussain, Tahirul Qadri and others, and received applause from participants.

“I am impressed by the powerful performance of students, especially the one on the APS attack made me cry,” said Professor Zok, the Hazara University controller of examination.

“We salute women who stood firm against terrorism and sent their children to schools after terrorists attacked the army public school and proved themselves to be mothers of a great nation, which can face situation boldly,” he said.

Professor Habib, head of science department of the Hazara University, urged students to focus their energies on acquiring modern education to face future challenges.

“The time is not far when our women will stand equal to men in every field of life and will hold key positions in forces and science related jobs,” he said.

Another speaker, Khalid, said the university was not only focusing on curricular activities but also it was giving equal importance to extracurricular and character building activities.

He said the college, was established 11 years ago, had secured distinctions in the curricular and extracurricular fields over the years. Later, Professor Zok and Professor Habib Ahmad gave away certificates and shields to high achievers.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2015

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