Peshawar School Attack: With the children, dies humanity

Another heart wrenching event marked on the same treacherous date “16 December”. 

Peshawar, an ancient city of more than 3 million people tucked right up against the Khyber Pass, has often found itself in the center of it all. 

Militants repeatedly targeted the city in response to Pakistani military offensives, like a 2009 truck bombing of a popular marketplace frequented by women and children that killed more than 100 people.

And the Taliban hasn't hesitated to go after school children.An attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, early Tuesday morning left more than 120 people dead, most of them children. 

The attack, which the Taliban claimed responsibility for, saw a number of militants wearing military uniforms open fire and detonate explosives at the Army Public School.

The BBC reported early on Tuesday that the school was attacked because it is an army-run institution, which has been confirmed by the Pakistani arm of the Taliban.

As the rescue operation had been underway, many parents frantically searched for their children outside the school, which was sealed off with an unknown number of hostages still inside. 

The nearby hospitals, which had received a number of the victims, had reportedly begun posting lists of the deceased. 

One doctor at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar told that some of the wounded and deceased who were brought in had been shot in the head and chest, while others were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the school playground. 

Parents dementedly searched for their wards while others queued outside hospitals to give blood. 

After all this, at the scene there was a very eerie atmosphere. A place like this, which should have been very happy and lively, was now just a desolate barren piece of land. 

Mohammad Hilal, a student in the 10th grade, was shot three times in his arm and legs when the gunmen stormed the school auditorium. “I think I passed out for a while. I thought I was dreaming. 

I wanted to move but felt paralyzed. Then I came to and realized that actually two other boys had fallen on me. Both of them were dead," he told the media. 

In line with the national mourning, Pakistani embassies worldwide will have their flags lowered to half-mast and books of condolences will be opened. No religion ever sanctions the killing of children. 

Going to school, market, and other public places are some of the mundane things, but now parents and families in Pakistan will be terrified off their wits to send their children to these places to be a part of these simple everyday activities.

Despite of all this, we still have hopes because we know; “When a good thing goes bad it's not the end of the world”. 

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