Peshawar remained desolate on December 16 and 17. There were funerals in almost every second street of the city. Everyone was pained.

Ahmad Shah, a student of grade 8 of the Army Public School, survived the tragic incident but lost his elder brother, Sher Shah.

Sher had returned to school after a month-long medical leave.

"We were taking the maths class when madam directed us to go to the auditorium for first-aid training. My brother and his class fellows of grade 10 sat on the back benches while we sat in the front row when the firing started," recalls a visibly shaken Ahmad Shah, from Daag Ismail Khel in Nowshera.

Ahmed says three armed men broke in from the backdoor and opened fire. "I sat down on the floor. One of my friends close to me was shot at. I shouted and told Sher to get down too… Sher was shot dead," he recalls, his eyes brimming with tears.

"Our teacher, Sadia, tried to protect some students but she was shot dead. They shot at everyone… for a few minutes, including the doctor and his assistants who had come to train us," says Ahmed, adding that the attackers exchanged a few words in English language, too, while chasing a doctor, "they said ‘catch him’."

"My friend Basit had drawn a beautiful heart a few days ago. He was shot in the heart," he says.

The students of the Army Public School on Warsak Road, Peshawar, who survived are in deep shock after losing around 146 people they associated with after seven terrorists stormed their building. About 130 injured students are still fighting for life in the hospital.

Tahira Qazi, who had been heading the institution since September 2006, was killed while protecting around 1100 schoolchildren and staff members.

"We heard some noise outside the auditorium. Our principal went to the door to check what was happening when around six attackers broke the door and opened indiscriminate firing, followed by a huge explosion," says Bilal, a student who managed to run out of the auditorium like some of his other friends and class-fellows.

Many of the Elite Force commandos fainted after they had entered the auditorium during the rescue operation, informs Najibur Rahman Bugvi, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Peshawar.

"Qari yau hum preg na di" (Qari, don’t spare anyone) were the few words we could understand as the language and accent in which they spoke was incomprehensible," says a student.

A father outside the hospital told reporters that his son sacrificed his life while protecting many friends during the shootout.

Students say the school principal could have escaped but she preferred to stay with the children. One schoolteacher rescued his young students but fell victim to a bullet. A few soldiers received bullets when they engaged with the attackers inside the building.

"We were in class four when we heard shots. Teacher told us that this might be a drill. We got down on the floor when the firing increased. A soldier later entered the room and asked us to follow him to the back door," says a student of grade 5, Ziab, from the Kakshal locality in Peshawar.

"While running with my friends to save our lives, I saw a young girl on the ground who was crying. I stopped, picked her up, and started running again till I dropped her in the Defense Colony Park where her teacher was waiting for her," says this young hero with tears in his eyes. "I have seen many of my friends and schoolmates being either killed or wounded. One day, when I grow up I will join the army only to defeat these militants," he adds.

Spokesman for Rescue 1122, Bilal Ahmad Faizi, recalls that they received a call from a teacher from inside the school, saying that someone had attacked the school and ambulances were needed to rescue the wounded. "We dispatched four ambulances immediately. When we reached there, the terrorists were still firing. Around two dozen soldiers and over a dozen cops of the Rapid Response Force had reached there already. We started rescuing the wounded amid the crossfire," he says.

"We brought many of the wounded and dead bodies to the Lady Reading Hospital but we were then told that the hospital was also under threat so the victims were to be shifted to the Combined Military Hospital," he adds.

There were moving scenes at the hospitals as the wounded and dead bodies were being brought in. All doctors, nurses, paramedics, political leaders, media persons, and those who had come to donate blood were crying after seeing the little angels fighting for their life.

"This is the worst incident I have so far covered in my journalistic career," says a senior journalist, Tauseefur Rahman.

The hospital ran out of medicines and blood when around 300 students, either martyred or wounded, were brought there. Hundreds of people rushed to the hospital or held camps in other parts of the city to donate blood for the victims.

On December 16, 1971, Pakistan lost its eastern wing. This was probably a coincidence that on the same date attackers broke into the Army Public School, via Bihari Colony, to carry out the worst ever terrorist attack in the history of the country.

It is high time the government and the army devise a clear policy to counter terrorism. It has already claimed thousands of Pakistanis in just about eight years.

The young survivors demand peace. It’s one innocent demand we can try to fulfill!