CEREMONY TO COMMEMORATE MARTYRS OF APS – TRIPOLI

A ceremony was organized at Pakistan Embassy School (PES) Tripoli, Libya, to honour APS Martyrs; over 400 students, teachers and officials participated in the simple and graceful ceremony. In view of the prevailing uncertain situation in Tripoli, the events was carefully tailored to pay homage to APS heroes, project own national resilience, covey message of steadfastness in face of all odds and infuse inspiration amongst local children; photos of the ceremony are attached as Annex A. The occasion was conducted in a manner wherein students assumed a central role in the proceedings which included recitation of Holy Quran, narration of tragic episode highlighting unforgettable sacrifices of APS heroes, playing and singing of both the theme songs specially prepared for the occasion, two minutes silence, Dua for the Shuhada, wreath laying and candle march by the school children. Main themes for the audience were:-

a. Resilience of Pakistani Nation; theme slogan “Resilience is deeply woven in our soul; with every obstacle we grow stronger”.

b. Resolve to wipe out terrorism from Pakistan; theme slogan “We Never Give In”.

c. All sections of Pakistani society including children are giving sacrifices in fight against terrorists.

d. Pakistan is the only country maintaining complete diplomatic presence and is running schools in Libya under most challenging environments & threat to life.

e. PESs are beacon of hope in prevailing distressful Libyan civil war conditions; theme slogan “No matter how long is night; the morning will always break”.

f. Our psycho-social make-up allows us to stand with our Libyan brethren in the hour of need.

g. PES children to follow the example of APS students who continue to strive for academic excellence even after having gone through the trauma of terrorist attack.

2. In order to create a long lasting impact of the event, a new concept i.e. “APS Nucleus Group of Excellence” has been introduced in the school wherein a pool of good students from middle and secondary classes would assist their academically weak fellow students; the service interwoven with the spirit of self-sacrifice and cooperation would be dedicated to APS Martyrs; slogan “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”

3. The ceremony was in continuation to activities to use Pakistan Embassy School to project ‘Soft image of Pakistan’; a similar activity was also organized in year 2014, the media coverage of this ceremony is also attached as Annex-B.