Bara dushman bana phirtha hai jo bacchon se darta hai

To thwart terrorism, we have to educate the children of terrorists.

Abeera Akhtar December 16, 2015
December 16, 2014, is a day that will remain forever etched in the memory of every Pakistani who lived through it. The loss of 147 innocent lives to extremism shook not just the nation but the world with its inhumanity. Pakistan military’s media wing, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), has aimed to play its part through two hauntingly beautiful and heart-warming musical tributes that have the power to reduce the listener to tears.

The first video was released by ISPR around a month after the horrific attacks and was broadcasted on various television channels.



It depicts various students wearing the Army Public School (APS) uniform. It is a message from the young martyrs to their mothers, families and the rest of the nation:
Bara dushman bana phirtha hai jo bacchon se darta hai.”

(Some enemy he is, he who is scared of children.)

It shows that the attack has not conquered the children of Pakistan, with the principal welcoming back the students in the auditorium that is reminiscent of the one where so many lives were lost.

The second video, released two days before the anniversary of the attack assumes a little more nuance in its message: Education is the best revenge. A child’s voice rings through the melody,
Mujhe dushman ke bachon ko parhana hai.”

(I want to educate the children of my enemies.)

It depicts a break in the cycle of violence. To thwart terrorism, we have to educate the children of terrorists.

Both songs relay very powerful messages to the terrorists: You have not paralysed us. You have not destroyed the faith of the people. Our children are still going to school, with an even greater sense of purpose than before. And, we will combat your ideology by educating your children as well. This will be our revenge.

What’s problematic, however, is that both songs are ripe with war rhetoric: the word “badla” (revenge) in the voice of a young child gave me chills. But so long as the revenge they speak of – education – is the only kind, the song is a beacon of hope in front of all the sorrows we have faced together.

We must commend the efforts of the ISPR in creating an atmosphere of community through these songs, and blending in our various voices into one. The songs are a soothing lullaby to a nation that has suffered too many nightmares.
WRITTEN BY:
Abeera Akhtar The author is a senior at LUMS. She is majoring in Sociology/Anthropology and minoring in English.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (5)

Xpecialist | 8 years ago | Reply While ISPR is warming up our hearts with such inspirational and soul lifting melodies, perhaps it can also provides us an explanation about a little known and little discussed but extremely crucial fact of this whole saga - the first aid training program at APS is usually reserved for students of 12th grade, yet on that fateful day, students from lower grades down to 8th class were hauled in to auditorium, why is that? According to one of the surviving students, they were called in to join the first aid training suddenly with no advance knowledge. Where in the world does a school conduct such trainng sessions in such random haphazard with no regard to disrupting regular classes? It seems yet another cover up by the army has nicely been pulled over an insider help/accomplice. If we look back at similar attacks on military bases around the country, most of them had had someone from inside the base providing crucial break in support. ISPR can churn out as many emotional songs as it wants but it doesn't negate the fact that military establishment has failed to do its job of keeping a vigilant eye on our internal & external enemies.
astonished2010 | 8 years ago | Reply With apologies, scripting and composing songs is for poets and musicians to do. Army and government's job is to provide safety and security to their citizens. Peshawar APS attack should have never been allowed to happen. No nation should ask its citizens for such sacrifice. No kids should be shown challenging the enemy. That's army's job.
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