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Pakistani expats remember Peshawar school attack victims

Dubai - "The smallest coffins are the heaviest... We will never forget."

Carrying a lit candle and holding onto his mother, 9-year-old Hyder Ali looked up at several hundred balloons that floated the twilight sky of Dubai on Wednesday.
Hyder Ali was one among hundreds of the Pakistani expatriates who gathered at the Consulate General of Pakistan to express solidarity with the victims of the Peshawar Army school carnage that claimed 148 lives, mostly school children.
"When I think about the tragedy that unfolded in the Peshawar army school attacks, it still hurts," said Ali.
The Consul General of Pakistan Javed Jaleel Khattak said: "This terrible event has only strengthened the Pakistani people's resolve to eradicate terrorism. Our hearts go out to the families to the victims of this tragedy.... We will not forget, we will not forgive."
"The victims of the carnage were mostly children... The incident shook us back in 2014, and the memory of the tragedy continues to bring back those horrific sights," said Asma Mahmood, an expatriate who has been in Dubai for the last 10 years.
"The smallest coffins are the heaviest... We will never forget," she added.
Among the visitors was Benazir Bhutto's daughter, Bakhtawar.
Alizeh Sarwar (22), a student of London School of Economics said: "I was in England when the tragedy unfolded. I was upset because my country was bleeding and I was not there... Today invokes a sense of solidarity in me."
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com