PESHAWAR: Emotional scenes were seen on Tuesday evening at a pre-Eid gathering of the parents of the Army Public School Peshawar students, who were killed by militants on December 16, 2014.

Mothers of the slain students hugged each others with tears in eyes.

Overwhelmed with grief, they tried to control their emotions but several of them burst into crying.

In the Iftar-dinner, parents discussed and shared with each other the habits and wishes of their lost kids during iftar, sehr and Eid preparations.

`We do iftar and sehri with tears in eyes. I miss my child on dining table,` a mother told Dawn.She said her lost son (Mohammad Yasin) was very particular about some dishes at iftar and sehr, so she used to make them for him.

The hall of a local hotel, where the gathering was organised, was decorated with the pictures of the slain students.

Besides parents, the siblings of the minor victims of the Dec 16 attack were also in attendance.

The sisters and brothers had own stories about the students killed in the APS attack.

Provincial information minister Mushtaq Ghani, APS Shuhada Forum president Abid Raza Bangash and other office-bearers of the forum also showed up.

On the occasion, Mushtaq Ghani said the tragic APS incident couldn`t be forgotten and that it had become part of history.

`The Dec 16 attack has leftevery house grieving and in agony,` he said.

The minister said no religion and society allowed taking revenge f rom children and women but the militants, who killed innocent children in school, had no religion.

He said the APS massacre united political parties and helped the formulation of the National Action Plan to eliminate militancy from the country.

`It was the APS incident, which forced the government to launch Operation Zarb-i-Azab and accelerate military operation in other tribal areas,` he said.

Responding to the parents` demand of providing land for the establishment of a university in the name of slain students, the minister said it was not a big issueandthatproperlandforthe university would be providedsoon.

He asked parents to select a place in Peshawar to build a monument for the APS attack victims.

President of Shuhada Forum Abid Raza Bangash said attack on APS and killing of students for no fault of theirs had left deep scar on their lives.

`We will carry this scar to our grieves. The sacrifices rendered by innocent souls was great as they prompted major decisions by policymakers like formulation of NAP against militancy, launching of operation Zarb-i-Azab.

`Still there are many questions in the minds of parents that why their kids were so brutally killed and who did it and for what purpose,` he said.

He said it was unfortunate that only the children` blood was shed by the people with a particular mindset to get their objectives.