On 16 December 2014, six gunmen affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The militants, all of whom were foreign nationals, included one Chechen, three Arabs and two Afghans. They entered the school and opened fire on school staff and children killing 149 people including 132 schoolchildren, ranging between eight and eighteen years of age making it the world's fourth deadliest school massacre.
Deeply affected by this cruelty and in an attempt to keep up the spirit of bravery and forgiveness alive, I penned down this memoir in the memory of the slain.
An Ode To Fear & Forgiveness
They jumped over the walls, carrying death in their jackets
They slyly slid in the classrooms, with cowardly manhood’s
They forgot for a moment that they were fathers too
They forgot for a moment, that the kid could be theirs too
They were prepared to die and they were prepared to kill
They were paid for what they call ‘Gods Will’
Their spines curved, and their footsteps sedated
Their will made up, to kill the helpless
They slithered in finding victory in the defeated battle
They opened fire, for a cause they thought they were guarding
Gruesome. Frightening. Ghastly. Inhumane.
They killed those little ones, in front of the education they were observing
A bullet in the head and a bullet in the stomach
A bullet piercing the heart and a bullet blowing up the brain
Innocence was killed by men without stomachs,
Beliefs were murdered by men so spineless
Education was insulted by men trying to redefine it
Humanity was slain, by the lily livered folk
They did not stop, in spite of the school drenched in blood
They did not tremble, in spite of the shrieks which pierced
All they saw was, how many they killed
All they saw was, how many they ‘achieved’
They named their slaughter as a ransom paid to God
They named the bloodbath created as a redemption for justice
Wish they had heard their own sons cry amongst them
Wish they had heard their own Gods pleading to them
And when they were done with their fatal act
And when their time came to give up their deathly pact
Boom, they blew up their own selves
Like defeated men, in the face of humanity
Like crushed souls, in the face of togetherness
Like overpowered cowards, in the face of a nation.
Salute to the little ones, who fought their best
Salute to the children, who faced their destinies so powerless
Salute to the little hopes, who came out alive
Salute to the little martyrs, who were finally laid to rest.
May the slayers go up there with victorious faces
May their own Gods, slap those shameful victories
May the same Gods, give strength to the mothers
May the same Gods, give strength to those fathers
And when the little kids meet their assassins up there
May those compassionate ones forgive them any way
And this very forgiveness will kill those assassins, a little more each day.
#RIPBraveHearts
Disclaimer: All views expressed or deduced are personal opinions and should not hold for/against any beliefs, religion or incidence.