Peshawar school reopens after Taliban massacre of students

PESHAWAR: Pakistani children and their parents returned on Monday to the school where Taliban gunmen killed 150 of their classmates and teachers, their green school blazers, Superman lunchboxes and hands clutched tightly to their parents a symbol of perseverance despite the horrors they had endured.

Pakistan has been reeling from the December 16 terrorist attack in Peshawar one of the worst the country has experienced. The violence carried out by seven Taliban militants has put a spotlight on whether the country can end the stubborn insurgency that kills and maims thousands every year. The violence also horrified parents across the nation and prompted officials to implement tighter security at schools.

For parents like Abid Ali Shah, getting ready for school Monday morning was horrifically painful. Shah's wife was a teacher at the school and was killed in the violence. Both of his sons attended the school. The youngest was shot in the head but survived after the militants thought he was dead. Monday morning they were late as they struggled with preparations previously done by Shah's wife.

"A hollowness in my life is getting greater. I am missing my wife," Shah said.

His older son, Sitwat Ali Shah, said he had managed to control his emotions. It wasn't until he saw his brother break down in tears that he did as well.

A ceremony was expected to be held at the school, but classes were not expected to be held until later this week.

Security was tight, part of a countrywide effort to boost safety measures at schools in the wake of the attack. Media and vehicles were kept hundreds of meters (yards) away from the school. The chief of Pakistan's army, Gen. Raheel Sharif, was on hand inside the school to greet students, a military spokesman said on Twitter.

For many, attending school Monday morning was an act of defiance and proof that they would not be cowed in the face of Taliban threats to attack again.

Andleeb Aftab, a teacher at the Army Public School, lost her 10th grade son, Huzaifa, in the attack. She arrived Monday wearing a black dress and black head scarf and walked briskly toward the school, where she had last seen her son alive.

"I have come here because the other kids are also my kids," she said. "I will complete the dreams of my son, the dreams I had about my son, by teaching other students. I have chosen to get back to school instead of sitting at home and keep mourning."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Worldwide Demonstrations Follow Charlie Hebdo Massacre

Thousands of demonstrators gathered Wednesday at the Place de la Republique after the shooting deaths at a French satirical newspaper in Paris.

Many who poured into Place de la Republique in eastern Paris near the site of the noontime attack waved papers, pencils and pens.

The messages of condolence, outrage and defiance over the Paris terrorist attack on a newspaper office spread quickly around the world Wednesday with thousands of people taking to the streets to protest the killings and using the slogan "Je Suis Charlie" on social media.

Demonstrations, including some silent vigils, took place in some U.S. cities, at London's Trafalgar Square, in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, in Madrid, Brussels, Nice and elsewhere.

"No matter what a journalist or magazine has to say, even if it is not what the majority of people think, they still have the right to say it without feeling in danger, which is the case today," said Alice Blanc, a London student who is originally from Paris and was among those in the London crowd, estimated in the hundreds.

In San Francisco, hundreds of people held pens, tiny French flags and signs that read "I am Charlie" up in the air outside the French Consulate in the financial district. A handful of the participants lit candles that spell out "Je Suis Charlie," while others placed pens and pencils and bouquets of white carnations and red roses by the consulate's door.

Julia Olson, of Nimes, France, said she wanted to be in the company of other people after hearing the news.

"There is nothing we can do but be together," the 26-year-old said.

Several hundred people gathered in Manhattan's Union Square amid chants of "We are not afraid" and holding signs in English and French saying "We are Charlie."

In Seattle, about 100 people assembled near the French Consulate office with many holding signs in support of the victims.

Source: www.abcnews.go.com

Fort Hood tears down site of 2009 jihad massacre

“For the building in which this horrific event took place just to be wiped off the map before we have a say in what’s done with it seems like another slap in the face.” Platoni is right: this is just another manifestation of the all-pervasive denial of the reality of jihad. They are pretending this jihad attack did not happen. Instead of acknowledging the murders realistically and redoubling our determination to resist jihad, U.S. officials have consistently dissembled and pretended that Nidal Hasan had motives other than the ones he repeatedly stated. And one thing is certain: whatever memorial is constructed there will say nothing whatsoever about why Hasan murdered these people as if a Pearl Harbor memorial said, “Random airplane pilots spontaneously and for no discernible reason decided to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.”

“Fort Hood tears down site of 2009 massacre,” by Nomaan Merchant for the Associated Press, February 18 (thanks to Darcy):

DALLAS (AP)

A Texas Army post has razed the building where a former psychiatrist carried out one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history, with plans to put up trees and a memorial in its place.

Fort Hood officials said Tuesday that they have torn down Building 42003, the site of a 2009 massacre that left 13 people dead and more than 30 wounded.

The building was part of a processing center complex for soldiers deploying and returning from combat. On Nov. 5, 2009, then-Maj. Nidal Hasan carried two weapons inside, shouted “Allahu Akbar!” “God is great” in Arabic and opened fire on soldiers waiting for vaccines and paperwork.

As soldiers and civilians tried to take cover, Hasan walked through the building, targeting anyone in a green Army uniform. He left pools of blood and spent ammunition in his wake. He was eventually confronted outside the building by Fort Hood police officers, who shot him and paralyzed him from the waist down.

Hasan was convicted in August of charges related to the massacre and sentenced to death. He is on death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., while his case goes through a review at Fort Hood before it enters a series of mandatory appeals.

The building was sealed off for nearly four years until post officials announced in November that they would demolish it.

Fort Hood officials, who declined to be interviewed, plan to place trees, a gazebo and a memorial plaque at the site.

Not all victims and their relatives agree with them. Kathy Platoni, an Army reservist who saw her friend, Capt. John Gaffaney, bleed to death, was one of the people who called on Fort Hood to keep the building standing as a reminder of what happened.

Platoni found out about the demolition Tuesday in a mass email from the post.

While post spokesman Chris Haug said he believed family members and victims were consulted about what to do with the site, Platoni said Army officials had not asked her opinion.

Platoni mentioned other points of contention between the Army and the Fort Hood victims, including a prolonged fight for increased benefits and recognition due to what many victims say is a terrorist attack, despite the Army’s insistence that the shooting was an act of workplace violence.

“For the building in which this horrific event took place just to be wiped off the map before we have a say in what’s done with it seems like another slap in the face,” Platoni told The Associated Press Tuesday afternoon.

She described her shock at watching video of the building being torn down. Asked if the video provided any closure, she said no.

“I don’t think there will be closure until Nidal Hasan has left the face of this earth, and even more importantly than that, the families of the deceased and the wounded receive all of the benefits (they deserve),” Platoni said. “Then there will be closure.”

No, there won’t. There won’t be closure until the U.S. acknowledges and confronts Hasan’s motives, and vows to fight those who are determined to murder Americans for the same reasons Hasan had.

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