Schools across India observe 2-minute silence

PTI New Delhi/Srinagar, December 17 Schools across the country observed a two-minute silence on Wednesday in a show of solidarity with Pakistan following an appeal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the dastardly terror attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. Special prayers were also held in some schools with children sporting black bands, many of them carrying placards in memory of the children who lost their lives. Candles were also lit as children reflected on the tragedy in silence. “Save the Globe from cruelty, the world is one,” read one placard carried by students of a school in Kanpur. As many as 132 children were among the 141 people who were massacred yesterday when seven heavily armed Taliban suicide bombers stormed a Pakistan army-run school in Peshawar firing indiscriminately. “In the wake of dastardly attack in Pakistan, I appeal to schools across India to observe 2 mins of silence tomorrow as a mark of solidarity.,” Modi tweeted last night after he spoke to his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif offering his “deepest condolences” on the attack. Modi also said that India stands firmly with Pakistan in the fight against terrorists. Some students also penned poems condemning the Peshawar carnage. “We had a special morning assembly during which we observed two minutes silence paying homage to victims of terrorism. Some of our students had penned poems decrying the grusome incident. We held a poetry reading session too,” said Ameeta Mulla Wattal, Principal of Springdales School in Delhi. Students of Sadhu Vaswani School in Shanti Niketan formed a human chain condemning the ghastly attack. Some students also held placards–“Save the world from terrorism, we are one”, “Ideas are bulletproof” and “bullets won’t deter us from learning”, “Let humanity prevail over barbarism.” A special prayer meeting after observance of 2 minute silence was held at the Air Force School in Delhi Cantonment. “We also held a mock security drill to check emergency response situation,” said Deepika T Singh, Principal of the school. Students at Tagore International school organised a signature campaign to show solidarity with Pakistan. In Srinagar, funeral prayers were held in absentia in memory of the victims at the Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area. The prayers were organised by chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Hundreds of people joined the special prayers which were followed by a peaceful protest led by the Mirwaiz.

Taliban attackers shot most students point blank in head

PTI ISLAMABAD, December 17 Most of the students at the army-run school in Peshawar were shot in the head from point blank range by the ruthless Taliban suicide attackers, in one of the most gruesome attacks against children in recent years. At least 132 students and nine staffers were killed when the attackers wearing para-military Frontier Corps uniforms stormed the Army Public School on Warsak Road and started indiscriminate firing on them on Tuesday. Quoting students, Dawn reported that the attackers scaled the boundary wall from the adjacent graveyard and started firing while moving towards the classrooms and auditorium. "Most of the students have received bullets in the head," Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa information minister Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani said, giving out chilling account of the attack. The parents, who usually wait outside the school to pick their children at the closing time, were seen crying outside hospitals. Besides the parents and relatives, the people visiting the hospitals were also seen mourning on seeing the bodies and injured students in their blood-stained school uniform. "I saw 17 bodies at the CMH (Combined Military Hospital) and all of them had received bullets in the head," said an eyewitness. He said that some of the bodies were mutilated. Mohammad Zeeshan, a student of grade-7, told Dawn that he and many others were getting first aid training in the school hall when they heard the gunfire. "Our trainer told us to lie down on the floor," he said, adding that in the meantime the terrorists entered the hall. Zeeshan said the terrorists started shooting the students in their heads at a close range. "They killed our class-fellows and then left us in the main hall. I received a bullet in my foot," he said. Another injured student said that terrorists were firing on the students in classrooms. "They also killed one of our teachers," he said.