By Fazal Khaliq
MINGORA: The terrorists killed my father and destroyed our school leaving us at the mercy of God but they did not stop me to receive education and defeat their anti-state ambitions, said 16-year-old Nayab Hayat who is not only a bright student but also a high class painter.
Nayab Hayat who is student of FSc first year in Khpal Kor Model School lived happy life with her family till 2008. However, her happy life turned into hell on August 23, 2008 when her father was killed in a suicide bomb blast carried out on a police station. Her misery did not stop with the killing of her father she lost her school and deprived of education after terrorists destroyed her school by bomb blast in the same year.
During the period of 2007 to 2009 Taliban militants in Swat challenged the writ of the government to impose their own version of Sharia law. They spread bloodshed in the scenic valley and imposed ban on woman education declaring it anti-Islamic, and destroyed more than 400 schools by bomb blasts in which 70 percent of them were girls schools.
Owing to the fear of their lives by the terrorists and destruction of hundreds of schools, many girls left education and ultimately grew illiterate.
However, Nayab did not lose heart and got an opportunity to carry on her studies in Khpal Kor Model School where she proved herself a bright student. “The terrorists were against girls education therefore they destroyed our schools in Swat. They wanted to keep us in darkness but I did not lose courage and carried on my studies here,” she told Morning Post, adding that she would get higher education and become a positive citizen.
She said she had a passion for paintings and with receiving higher education she would become a good painter through which she would transform her feelings into colours. “I will serve my country and represent it on the international stage through my paintings which would be a defeat to the terrorists who wanted to keep me in darkness but I resisted against them and defeated their anti-state and dirty ambitions.
Nayab is not alone many other students, whose fathers were killed by terrorists and also their schools were destroyed, they were not subdued by the threats of the terrorists and continued education.
Muhammad Idrees
Muhammad Idrees a resident of Matta tehsil whose father was in police force and was killed by the terrorists during the mayhem in Swat is also studying in FSc first year in Khpal Kor Model School. He is a bright student and also topped his school in the SSC examination. “They (the terrorists) when destroyed schools in our area they also imposed ban on education and warned severe punishment for those who wanted to continue education,” Idress told Morning Post and said that he did not pay heed to the warnings of terrorists and resumed his studies.
He aimed to become a doctor and serve the poor communities of his area where once the terrorists tried to spread the reign of terror, pushing it into darkness by destroying the educational institutes.
Through his resilience he vowed to fight the dirty ambitions of terrorists and prove to the world that Pakistanis were peace and education loving people. “We will lift our country, once again, to the skies through education and development,” he vowed.
