Academically Poor, Socially Rich

Children can be brave, reckless in pursuits. They don’t care about the consequence. They live a life in which they wish to live. They can do such remarkable attempts which the real men can’t think. Even when death stares them in the face, children are not paralyzed by the fear of its finality.

Aitzaz Hasan Bangash, a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa born Pakistani child, who died on 6 January 2014 while preventing a suicide bomber from entering the school at Hangu village, saving the lives of more than 700 children.

Aitzaz Hasan Bangash didn’t think that he is confronting a suicide bomber, which is equal to kissing the feet of heaven.Children who watch heroic animations and cartoons, they tend to do as it is. He always heard about terrorists, killing innocent people, suicide bombers, etc. When the suicide bomber came in front of the schoolboys, they ran fast to warn the school administration. But Aitzaz chooses to stand his ground.

You only have to look at the stone-faced survivors of the Peshawar school attack last month to know that. The matter-of-fact, detached enactment of their terrible ordeal in quiet voices. Something inside them had curdled; something had hardened.

His friends always teased him that he is like a bomb. He is more significant than any bomb. He wants to prove to his friends that he is more significant than any bomb, we can say that. Or he was more significant in touch with the security threats on his community and school; that’s why he chooses to hug the suicide bomber.

Every child does things that are happening around him. He will follow the instructions if he has been told about guarding the community at any cost. Why he does that? Because he is a child. He obeys any bad or good thing. Because he is innocent, he did not care about the consequences. 

We can say that he chooses to be massacred rather than die in the hands of terrorists. He was the savior of 700 children who was standing in the assembly of a winter morning.

His achievements in early age is unforgettable. He was the student of 9th class. He was just 16 years old.

But did a fantastic and life-saving work for his community.

“Academically poor, Socially Rich” is how Tahir Ali, the school Principle describes Aitzaz. He has a picture of the boy next to Jinnah’s on the wall of his office.

“Like Malala revolutionized the youth’s outlook on female education, Aitzaz has instilled in them a spirit of sacrifice.”

We have many more examples of brave children who set a record to sacrifice their lives to save the motherland. We have the innocence of the child, which is shown by their face when they are sitting on the chest of their Grand Father without saying a word. We have a nameless boy coming out of school alive and safe, only to go running back to rescue his kid brother trapped inside. The brothers’ bullet-riddled bodies were found later.

No one can’t defeat our brave and strong children. Security forces are on the other hand. 

Author: Rtr Habib Sultan

Rotaract Club of UAF

RID-3272