No words can describe the sheer admiration and sadness one feels for 15-year-old Aitzaz Hasan, the brave young teen who sacrificed his life by preventing a suicide bomber from detonating himself in his school. The terrible incident took place in Hangu, outside a school packed with 2,000 children. According to his friends, Aitzaz and a few other boys noticed a suspicious looking man wearing a suicide vest and approaching the school. Whilst the other boys decided to run away, the lionhearted Aitzaz confronted the bomber in an attempt to capture him. However, the terrorist detonated himself and took the teen with him to the after world.
It is indeed a sad world in which school children have to make such decisions, where they either choose to run away and cower under terrorist strangleholds or stand their ground and, more often than not, become martyrs for the sake of others. By offering himself, Aitzaz Hasan saved 2,000 innocent lives — an act of valour and sacrifice indeed. There has been a tremendous outpouring of praise from all over the country, particularly on social media, where awareness is being raised of the bravery of the young man. He is being likened to another young child in Pakistan who also fought against the terrorists; her name is Malala. Both Malala and Aitzaz belong to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province most afflicted by the militancy in FATA. It is the children of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who are suffering the brunt of the terrorists’ wrath. The militants have been targeting education in this region for one simple reason: it is education that provides the youth with an alternative to the Taliban narrative — a life worth living for. The bomber in this incident was targeting a school, a signature move of the Taliban. Children like Malala and Aitzaz have had enough. They have seen their schools, teachers and friends targeted and brutally killed, all in the name of Taliban ideology. They have seen their hopes and dreams destroyed, and they have reached a tipping point.
A proposal has been put forward by civil society that Aitzaz Hasan receive the highest military award, the Nishan-e-Haider, but that seems unlikely as no precedent exists for a civilian ever being given this military award. However, it is hoped that the government takes note of the ultimate sacrifice given to the nation by this young boy, and that he be commemorated in a befitting manner. It is so important to encourage this nation’s children who take affirmative action against terrorism. It is just so tragic that these very children are the main casualties in this war.
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