PESHAWAR: A teenage survivor of the terrorist attack on a school described how he played dead after being shot in both legs by insurgents hunting down students to kill.

Speaking from his bed in the trauma ward of the Lady Reading Hospital, 16-year-old Shahrukh said he and his classmates were attending a career guidance session in the school auditorium when four gunmen wearing paramilitary uniforms burst in.

“Someone screamed at us to get down and hide under the desks,” he said. “Then one of them shouted: ‘There are so many children beneath the benches, go and get them’,” Shahrukh said.

“I saw a pair of big black boots coming towards me, this guy was probably hunting for students hiding beneath the benches.” He said he felt a searing pain as he was shot in both legs just below the knee.


Says attackers shot children hiding under benches


He decided to play dead, adding: “I folded my tie and pushed it into my mouth so that I wouldn’t scream.”

“The man with big boots kept on looking for students and pumping bullets into their bodies. I lay as still as I could and closed my eyes, waiting to get shot again.”

“My body was shivering. I saw death so close and I will never forget the black boots approaching me; I felt as though it was death that was approaching me.”

As his father, a shopkeeper, comforted him in his blood-soaked bed, Shahrukh recalled: “The men left after some time and I stayed there for a few minutes. Then I tried to get up but fell to the ground because of my wounds. When I crawled to the next room, it was horrible. I saw the dead body of our office assistant on fire. She was sitting on the chair with blood dripping from her body as she burned.”

It was not clear how the woman’s body caught fire, though her remains were also later seen by an AFP reporter in a hospital mortuary.

Shahrukh, who said he also saw the body of a soldier who worked at the school, crawled behind a door to hide and then lost conciousness.

“When I woke up I was lying on the hospital bed,” he added.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2014

Opinion

Editorial

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.