Tehmina Durrani Foundation to build houses for families hit by APS tragedy

PESHAWAR: The Tehmina Durrani Foundation on Tuesday announced to purchase land for the construction of 144 houses within 15 days in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and hand over these to the families that lost members in the Army Public School and College in eight to nine months.
Tehmina Durrani, who had specially come to Peshawar to offer sympathies to the bereaved parents, met and hugged each and every mother during a reference for the martyred students and staff members of the Army-run school. She later met the fathers of the slain children in the hall before addressing the participants there.
Tehmina Durrani, who had heard the emotionally-charged parents and speakers from the stage, said their children had changed the direction and policies of Pakistan.
Terming the 16/12 incident as a more tragic incident than the 9/11, she said the innocent children had offered a great sacrifice for Pakistan which would never be forgotten.Tehmina Durrani said she would construct houses in the name of every child. She urged the government to provide pension to the parents of each martyred child.
The parents of Aitizaz Ahsan, another martyred student who had foiled a suicide bombing bid on a school in the Hangu district and saved his schoolmates, were also invited to the function.Tehmina Durrani said she had not come to Peshawar to represent the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or her husband, Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab.
Tehmina Durrani, who hails from the Charsadda district, said she would live and die in her native area. She said she could have arranged such a function at the Governor’s House Peshawar or at the residence of a PML-N leader if she had any political ambitions.
The parents association of the martyred children had asked the bereaved parents not to attend the function as it believed this was politically motivated. However, the majority of the parents turned up at the event.
Tehmina Durrani also announced to make arrangements for all the aggrieved parents, survivors and staff members of the Army Public School and College to offer Umrah to get rid of the trauma brought about by the tragedy.
She suggested distributing laptops among the school students and observing December 16 as a day of mourning to remember the martyrs. Tehmina Durrani said she knew the judicial inquiry would fix responsibility for the security lapse. Earlier, a female teacher, on behalf of the parents, staff, Peshawarites and Pakistanis in her emotionally charged speech demanded judicial inquiry into the terrorist attack on the army-run school.
Soon after the recitation from the Holy Quran, Qari Basit shared with participants the dreams of some parents. He quoted three fathers who had seen their martyred children in paradise.Earlier, two parents interrupted a female teacher when she demanded facilities for the families of the martyred students. They said they did not need any facility but wanted security for their children.