Ohhai. So, I've been missing in action for like, a few months, but now that my vacation started I thought I was going to come back and spend some more time here. Sadly, I haven't come back feeling any bit happier, primarily because of the grueling incident in Peshawar, Pakistan, that took place on 16th December. My apologies if this has already come up in a thread before, I scrolled through the most recent ones and didn't see anything. Anyhow. *sigh* I just wanted to talk about what happened. Reader discretion advised. Around 1 PM, a group of six terrorists (some news agencies claim, seven, even nine, but six is the predominant number), dressed as FC (Frontier Corps) personnel entered the Army Public School, Peshawar, by scaling its back walls. They headed straight to the auditorium, where all of the ninth and eighth graders had been collected to listen to a lecture. They broke in and at first, one of the terrorists detonated a suicide bomb, and thereafter, they started to shoot the students. As per first-person accounts, they shot one student at a time, taunting them by saying "we might just let some of you go." They then proceeded to the classrooms in the college section, and one by one killed everyone inside them, burning the teachers and shooting the students (apparently, three classes were struck). Once the army arrived, they retreated to the administrative block, and from there on they were shot by snipers and eventually the commandos overpowered them. It is possible this account has minor errors, but this is the gist of it. The attack took the lives of 132 youth ranging from ages 8-18, with a total death count of 141 if you include the adults, such as the principal and teachers. There are numerous others severely injured and battling death in the hospitals. Many of them describe scenes of carnage and terror unbeknownst to a young schoolchild who barely understands the nature of terrorism. It is the worst terror attack to have occurred in the history of Pakistan, and perhaps a deciding one for the whole world. I've heard some American and British news outlets are popularizing two very faulty notions regarding this attack, so I wanted to clarify those too. The attack was not motivated because these kids were going to school--they specifically targeted children of army men, in retaliation of the aggressive efforts being made by the army to eradicate terrorists from Pakistan. Suffice to say, the army has also killed a number of women and children in the process, and this was their sick way of taking revenge. Also, there was no gender discrimination at the level of healthcare--since the part of the institute most severely struck was a boys' school, it's really no rocket science that they primarily were treating boys. Here are some news outlets describing what happened in more detail. http://www.dawn.com/news/1151203/ttp-militants-storm-peshawar-school-126-killed http://www.dawn.com/news/1151223/i-saw-death-so-close-student-recalls-peshawar-school-carnage http://arynews.tv/en/peshawar-attack-claimed-lives-132-children-9-staffers-dg-ispr/ http://arynews.tv/en/silent-classes-bloody-notebooks-peshawar-school-massacre/ http://arynews.tv/en/peshawar-massacre-survivors-vow-defy-taliban/ Here are some pictures of the incident. Viewer discretion strongly advised. Spoiler: Graphic Images - AYOR We here are broken and crushed, and while not everyone might be as concerned, I think all of us feel lost and meaningless since the incident. I feel like I've lost a part of me, and it will never come back. Things have taken a turn for the worst, and it seems that our lives will never be the same again. I pray to Allah that these innocent souls be blessed in the next life, and those responsible face a worthy punishment. I pray my fear and disillusionment wanes, and I can smile again without feeling unworthy of it.
I've not deleted the images you included in your post, but I have wrapped them in a spoiler tag so that members may chose whether or not to see them by clicking the tag.
This is absolutely horrible. I can't imagine how someone could do something like this. I really hope the Taliban are wiped off the face of the earth. Apparently their reason for doing this was to stop the military offensive against them. Do they honestly believe killing innocent kids is going to help with that?
Utterly, utterly appalling. How they can even attempt to justify it as a legitimate target is beyond me. A new low in this flawed and futile ideological crusade. My thoughts are with the people of Pakistan at this time.
Thank you for posting your insights, @Charisma. The news as I've heard it here in the US had not said much about the educational aspect with the exception of talking about Malala Yousafzai. That is until recently when it was reported the attack was in retaliation for her Nobel Prize. Instead it was reported to be revenge for a recent attack by the army against Islamic extremists in North Waziristan and in nearby Khyber. It would appear that an 'expert' made the claim latest claim: I can't imagine how horrible it must be to live this reality. I want to say the culture of revenge seems to be an impossible hurdle to overcome but I hope I'm not offending you by bringing it up. Clearly the civil war is the main aspect right now, but the constant calls to avenge seem never-ending.
I saw a short article in a Swedish newspaper earlier today about this event. Due to a pretty weak headline (compared to what really happened) and a too short text body I pretty much skipped over the article. Reading this thread now I realised that our media did not in anyway do the attack justice. I'm still sitting with a headache, blinking away tears after trying to grasp how anyone could ever do something like this. I feel with you, Charisma.
This surprises me given the Norway youth massacre. These things tend to remind people of their own horrendous events. It's been big news here in the US including a discussion of the dilemma that we are encouraging/supporting the Pakistan military to carry out the attacks on the Taliban.
Thank you @thirdwind , @outsider , @Chinspinner , @Komposten and @GingerCoffee for your response. This is a tragedy beyond my wildest nightmares, I can't even imagine what the families of the deceased, and the traumatized survivors, are going through. Making it known and remembered by you guys the littlest of the little I can do. @GingerCoffee I'll be honest, I didn't really grasp what you meant, so I am incapable of taking offense, if at all. Could you rephrase it?
This is terrible. I seriously dreaded even reading the news. It's difficult to wrap my head around the sheer loss and sorrow. So many young lives lost. My heart goes out to the people of Pakistan, and I so, so wish we humans could just get the fuck over our indifferences and live in peace. Nah, Princess Madde is pregnant. That's the number one news in Scandinavia + Finland right now.
I have read that some Afghanistan Taliban leaders do not accept the attack. Pakistan Taliban has been much more cruel than their Afghanistan counterparts historically. This really wouldn't fit the plan of Afghanistan Taliban. Pakistanis might feel the pressure of quickly rising extremely cruel organisations like IS Most of all I'm sadden by a horrific event like this. Thank you OP for sharing your insights.
Thank you @KaTrian and @Mike Hill for your kind words. Thought I'd share another link. This one isn't graphic; it's the profiles of some of the young boys who lost their lives in attack. Reading about it saddens, especially when I realize they were just normal people with normal dreams! http://graphics.wsj.com/lists/pakistan-school-profiles
I'll try to but it's hard to tread carefully around cultural stereotypes. Let me put forth 3 articles, the first saturated with the stereotype, the second downplaying the cultural component of revenge close to the point of denial of its significance, and a third that at least tries for some balance. 1) Badal - revenge - is closely related to the notion of honor. 2) Pashtuns Must Have Their Revenge! Sometimes! 3) Understanding Pashtunwali First, let me say that I understand the problem of viewing other cultures through media stereotypes as well as viewing from the outside, filtering the observations through an egocentric lens. I don't think revenge is based in a religion. And I don't think our culture is absent the revenge component. We desire revenge as well, calling it 'justice' or some other cleaned up word. After all, look at our reaction to 9-11, clearly revenge is a human emotional desire. But with all that said, there does appear to be a stronger cultural component of revenge, not just in the Pashtun, not just in Arab or Persian cultures, but in the entire area from Israel to India. Tying revenge to a measure of manhood and motivating men to murder innocent children with an act of suicide to get revenge is not something one sees on the same scale in the Western cultures. Again, not that we are free of this desire. There are plenty of Western examples, but they mostly involve individuals or a milder form of revenge. So on the scale of things, the cultural amplification of the desire for revenge would seem to be having a disastrous effect in large parts of the Middle East.
It is awful news. It is amazing some people can do things like this. I hope the families of the fallen can find some comfort. It will be surely needed.
I see. I can't speak for Pashtun culture because I don't belong to it, and don't have great depth of information concerning it, but yes, constructs such as "honor" have a lot of weight up north, and after skimming through these articles I sort of understand where you're getting at. And I take your measured perspective in good faith. However, I will correct you when you say "motivating men to murder innocent children with an act of suicide to get revenge is not something one sees on the same scale in the Western cultures." I know you meant well, but to be brutally honest, no one in their right mind condones killing children, whether they're Western or Eastern. Anyone who does is either, archaic (surely you could find examples of people who had similar notions of revenge from Medieval Ages), or just completely devoid of morality. Pashtun culture may be a minor contributing element to their vicious approach to "revenge", but I doubt that it could, in any way, condone killing children/teenagers. The real culprit is the contorted worldview that is being fed into their minds as we speak. Moreover, the social and cultural development of these areas you mentioned has been stunted for years now, which may have caused many ideals that have evolved in the developed world to remain instilled in the developing nations. Anyhow, this isn't a debate forum, and I wouldn't want to make it. I'll settle for a simple, "good point." And thank you @Lemex I hope they do too.
I don't disagree at all, @Charisma. I said long ago one of the biggest mistakes we are making is allowing the brainwashing to go on in the rural madrassas without countering the effort with alternative educational opportunities.
