The World Stories

Childhood is the name of free and full life in which the thought of death is meaningless. But if a child sees death revolving around him, he may realize the reality of life that this world is mortal and it is The reality makes his subconscious so strong that he vows to live life and this is what happened to APS student Waleed Khan when on the morning of December 16, he saw another form of man in the form of a terrorist and that innocence. Forgotten and in what words he remembers today is another experience of mine. ‘in Pakistani couldn’t hide what had happened to me, and I didn’t want to.” Waleed Khan said that When I entered school in Birmingham, my fellow students had a lot of questions to ask me.
‘Where are you from?’
What happened to you?’
‘What happened to your face?’
And it was all because of the scars left on my face. I couldn’t hide what had happened to me in Pakistan, and I didn’t want to. These signs are Mir They are on the right side of my face and just above my mouth. Initially, I was very impressed by his presence because every day when I looked at my face in the mirror, what happened to me would flash in my mind. I found it quite difficult to tell everyone individually why I had scars on my face and how they came to be. So I decided to tell everyone my story at once. For this purpose, the school administration asked me to gather in one place.Coming while my legs were shaking. I remember being so happy that the podium in front of me wasn’t letting my trembling show across the school. It was the first time I stood on stage again, three years after what happened to me. I didn’t write my speech because I knew what I had to say. When I started to speak, the people in the hall were listening to me in complete silence and silence. At first I was not able to see the faces of the people in the hall. Let’s look at it. However, when I looked up later, I saw many students with tears in their eyes. Later, my teachers told me that they had never seen the students so quiet as they were during my talks. Waleed Khan was shot six times in the face, one in the leg and one in the hand. It was painful to relive what had happened. My past and the friends I had lost compelled me to come on stage and tell my story. Do When I woke up in the morning on December 16, 2014, it was a normal day. I put on my school uniform and met my friends in the car park. It was our routine that every day before school started we would meet in the school cafeteria and have breakfast. The focus of our conversation would usually be the cricket match that took place the previous day. After that we would go to our class. Our school was in Peshawar and it was an army run school. That is why we used to see soldiers in school. It was not new to us that an army major should learn came to the auditorium and gave us a lecture on first aid. Our school had different sections like school section, college section and toddler section. The school and college wings were combined for lectures on medical aid and hence the auditorium was packed with students aged 11 to 18. I was 12 years old at that time and was the youngest head boy of the school wing. . My parents were proud to be Boys Head. Being the Head of Boys, I used to sit on the stage with the Principal and on that day the Major on the stage Sir was also present. From the stage I could see the faces of all the students. My friends would sometimes make fun of me by drawing my attention and trying to make me laugh. That day we were almost in the middle of a conversation when we heard a loud explosion. It was loud but not that loud. . A few weeks ago, students of the college wing threw firecrackers in the school auditorium as a prank. We enjoyed it a lot but it was not so fun for our teachers. It was different from his voice. It was not the sound of a firecracker bursting at all. It could be the sound of an army drill, we all consoled ourselves. The conversation was affected by the sound and the sounds of students’ laughter and conversations began to be heard. However, this all started to change when the sounds of explosions got closer and closer. I asked my teacher on the stage if everything was fine. His reply was ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry, everything is fine.’ A few students were definitely worried but others were still busy laughing. but When there was a very loud explosion, the entire auditorium fell silent. At that moment, I realized that all was not well. The smile on the faces of the teachers disappeared and they started locking all the doors of the auditorium. A teacher instructed all the students to crouch down and hide under the chairs. The younger students started crying. I was so nervous that I stayed where I was sitting on the stage. None of us had ever heard gunshots so close before. Meanwhile, The door of the auditorium was broken and it became a war zone. There was no break in the crackling of bullets. They entered, firing bullets. One of them shouted, ‘Shoot the older boys in the head.’ This he said so loudly that everyone heard him. And that’s when I realized that I was still in my chair. I was so unconscious that I was unable to move my body. I just sat and stared at them. When one of them pointed his gun at me Time was also unable to move. He was only 10 meters away from me when he shot me first in the face. When the bullet hit my face, I felt a lot of pain. My mouth was open and bleeding, but even then I was not sure that what was happening was real. The bullets were still pouring out. They shot my friends in the head, hands, legs and chest in front of my eyes. From the stage I could see everything. I could see my classmates dying in front of me. A Some of them died quickly while others died sobbing. Although their dead bodies were lying in front of me, I was not ready to accept that my friends had perished. And how can you believe that just a few moments ago we were laughing and whispering to each other. It was extremely painful. I was completely helpless Waleed Khan’s face was so badly injured that he was initially thought to be dead and was placed with dead bodies in the hospital. Now I was lying on the stage and crawling around trying to get the chairs there I can take shelter behind. At that time, a terrorist saw me moving. He shot me several times in the face. I lost count of how many shots were fired. I thought it was all over, and I was going to die on the stage floor. Death was not far away. I was remembering all the promises I had made to my parents that I would improve their lives by becoming a doctor. I knew I would never see them again. There was silence in the auditorium now as the gunpowder in the bullets formed a cloud The reason was not visible. Now the militants turned their attention to whether there were any survivors. They started watching the students shaking them with their guns so that if anyone was alive they could be shot again. They reached out to me. I was kicked in the chest with my foot which made me scream. When he looked at my face, it was badly distorted. I think they left me to die a painful death. After waiting for what felt like hours I saw them from the auditorium Heard on the way back. They were headed for the children’s wing. I put my hand in front of my mouth for the warmth of my breath and to know that I was alive. I was alive. I knew that all my blood had been lost and I felt the inside of my face boiling out. But somehow I could still see and hear. My mind was working. I wasn’t even scared anymore. And it was because what could have happened to me more than that? When I tried to get up, I did so Couldn’t succeed. My legs were not supporting me so I started crawling to drag myself to safety. Every centimeter I walked felt like I was going to die from the pain. Then I would again put my hand to my mouth to see if I was still alive. I said to myself, ‘I’m still breathing. I will do my best to keep breathing until I run out of breath.’ When the army By the time emergency personnel reached me, I had crawled 30 meters and was almost unconscious. Half of my face was gone and I didn’t realize I had been shot in the leg as well. The only thing I don’t remember about that day was how I got to the hospital. The militants had shot me in the face so badly that when I was brought to the emergency room, I was put under corpses instead of wounded. I was paralyzed from the loss of so much blood.. I tried to speak and make a sound to let people know that I was still alive, but no sound came out of my mouth. To keep my respiratory system going, I started taking long breaths, hoping that someone would come. Let’s look at me. Blood began to form in my mouth. I was later told that a nurse had found me among the dead bodies. I was shot six times in the face and one each in the leg and hand. I survived the second worst terrorist attack in the history of Pakistan. Came out Those who targeted our school were Pakistani Taliban. Most of the victims of the attack were children. My classmates, who could have become politicians, engineers and doctors in the future, died in the blink of an eye. For the first two years after the attack, I was confined to a hospital bed. I was in a coma and then one operation after another. My parents were told that I had only a 1% chance of survival. Much later, when I had recovered somewhat, I inquired about my friends. Started it. Is he alive? is he ok When can I meet this friend? The doctors first had to remove all the pills and their shells from my body. And then they stitched my face together and it required several operations. My front teeth and jaw were completely broken. So the doctors removed a bone from my leg and made a new jaw from it. They put metal plates inside my mouth and with their help a new joint was made. This is the biggest operation I have ever done There was an operation. Whenever I was alone and I had a phone or tablet, I would try to find the names of those who died, but before I could find them, the nurses or my parents would stop me from doing so. Everyone wanted to save me from further suffering, and I don’t blame them for that. A few months after the attack, I was paralyzed by the stress and trauma of what happened to me and the physical injuries. I found myself on the verge of suicide several times. I prayed that all this was true and my friends are still alive. Every day I used to cry remembering this incident. Several weeks passed like this and after that my mother came to me and said, ‘What will happen to crying now? Will your friends come back from doing this? It is only fair that you get well and return to normal life, and do something for your friends that they will remember forever.’ If I could not be treated further, the complicated situation of my injuries brought me to the UKBrought so that further treatment can continue. Pakistani army helped me in treatment. It was very unfortunate that I had to leave Pakistan with my mother and sister to come to UK for treatment. When we came to Britain for the operation two years after the attack, my father and I didn’t know anyone here. “My parents were told I only had a one percent chance of survival.” At first, Britain and Birmingham were completely foreign to me. Soon the community here welcomed us and now it feels like Jess Birmingham is my home away from home. As soon as I got a little better, what I wanted most was to go back to school. Some people may not understand this and the fact is that if logic is put forward, school should be the place where I feel most insecure and sad. But my view is completely different, education is what I see my future in. Going to school in Birmingham was a good coincidence. Sometimes I can’t believe how good it is he education, peace and human rights are within the reach of every child. All these are things that we could not even imagine in Pakistan. The extremists who entered our school thought it appropriate to carry bombs and guns, but to defeat extremism in my country, I carried books and pens. Better understood because I think education and not weapons are what extremists fear. I am waiting for my next surgery and going to school. I am preparing for O level exam. I am a member of the UK Youth Parliament am also The decision to make me a member was taken jointly by all the schools in Birmingham. We listen to the issues faced by young people in our area and once a year we even take them to the House of Commons. When I walked up to the stage with wobbly legs to give my talk at my new school in Birmingham. So I had no idea that it was going to make a big difference. I was worried that people would laugh at my story and I thought, ‘Why would anyone listen to my story?’ of this incident After that, I lost faith in humanity. But when I finished my speech at school, my classmates hugged me and gave me a lot of respect. A part of the faith in humanity that I had lost came back that day. Since then, I have visited many schools, colleges, universities and offices of various companies in the UK to give motivational speeches. My last such talk was at ‘SOAS’ London. I don’t want to live just for myself but for all the children who were attacked that day.They have been killed in other attacks. I want people to never forget my friends and classmates, those friends who came to school not to die but to study. It’s nice to make new friends, but the ones I’ve lost stay in my mind.