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No joy for parents of APS victims on this Eid

By Mohammad Ashfaq 2015-07-16
PESHAWA R: For ten years, Afshan dressed her son in new clothes on the morning of Eidul Fitr to go to mosque for offering Eid prayers. Yaseen would leave with his father and return from the mosque to hug his mother and wish her a happy Eid.

This early morning Eid day ritual had become part of their festivities, but this year Eid will be different for Afshan and her husband. She will not be dressing up her son to go for prayers. She will not expect her son to return from the mosque to wish her. This Eid, she and her husband will visit the local graveyard to remember Yaseen, a grade ten student, who died in the militant attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar, late last year.

`Our joys were buried with him in the grave,` says a tearful Af shan. `Now we only have memories of those joyful days.

With the tragic death of Yaseen along with his other school fellows on December 16, 2014, his mother (Afshan) lost all charm in her life and seems to have even forgotten herself.

`How a mother whose only son was so brutally killed for no sin will celebrate Eid,` she told Dawn.

Afshan is not the only mother passing through agonies and grief. All the parents of the APS victims and their close relatives would mourn on Eid instead of celebrating it as the occasion will refresh the tragic incident.

`I lost my brother who was also my best friend,` says Amir Amin, whose brother Ishaq Amin was killed in the attack.

Ishaq was a student of pre-medical group.

`On every Eid we used to plan how to celebrate the three days of Eid,` says Amir, who was also seriously injured in the attack. Recalling his past memories, the young Amir says on the occasion of each Eid he and Ishaq used to wear the same clothes and shoes.

`Though Ishaq was one year older than me, we remained class fellows from nursery to grade-10. I had a very deep association with him,` says Amir while taking a deep sigh with tears in his eyes. The upcoming Eid would be equal to the December 16 incident, he says. `I and Ishaq played, ate, and gone to school together.

`I will buy a floral wreath to be laid on the grave of my son with the money I used to give him as Eidi on the occasion of each Eid,` says Ajoon Khan, who also lost his only son, Asfand Khan, a 10th grader, to the attack.

Talking to Dawn, Ajoon Khan, who is also general secretary of Ghazi Shuhada Forum, asked why no one was punished for their negligence which caused the occurrence of the tragic incident.

He said the parents would continue their struggle until the culprits were brought to justice. Like other parents he raised the same question why his son was assassinated as he had pen in his hand and not weapon.

Gul Sher, a grade-8 student, brother of four sisters, used to go to the houses of his aunts and uncles after Eid prayers to wish them happy Eid, says Nashir Gul. `But on this Eid, his aunts and uncles would only be waiting for Gul Sher as militants snatched him from us.