The Times - UK (2020-09-05)

the times | Saturday September 5 2020 1GM 39

Saturday interviewNews

“Either he was thinking about his best

friend who died in that attack and

also I was in there,” Ahmad says. “We

only know that he was shot in the

back of the head.”

Ahmad spent weeks in hospital in

Peshawar, and had six operations on

his arm but there was nerve damage

and the doctors said that the only way

to avoid amputation was to have

specialist treatment from the Queen

Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Two months after the attack he came

to the UK with his family and with

five more operations his arm was

rebuilt. “The physical pain wasn’t the

biggest part of it for me, it was the

emotional and mental trauma,” he

says. “For about two years there were

really big flashbacks.”

W

hen he started school

in Birmingham he

knew it would be

hard. “I was sitting in

the hall and thinking,

‘if the terrorists come here what way

will I escape?’ But there was a

moment in the hospital when I

realised that the whole reason for

attacking a school and killing children

was to deter people from going to

school. I was feeling very angry about

the death of my brother and my

friend. I thought there was a way to

[get] revenge and that was to focus

not only on my education, and get the

best possible grades, but also to help

other people enjoy their education.”

He was shocked to hear the news

that as many as 800 young people

had gone from Britain to fight for Isis

in Syria and Iraq. “I thought why

would someone want to leave the

opportunities, the privileges that they

have here and run towards a terrorist

group and kill people? The idea

sounded to me so ridiculous that I

wanted to do something to stop this.”

Having spoken to students and

teachers in schools up and down the

country, he is convinced that more

needs to be done to tackle the root

causes of radicalisation.

“People go to extreme ends...

because of a feeling of alienation, of

being left out and being the outsider, I

think it’s the lack of integration.”

Ahmad says he doesn’t want to be

seen as a victim. On Twitter he

describes himself as “A Survivor”.

“There are quite a lot of people who

have suffered and they just keep

down, keep low and try and go

through life with guilt in their heart.

There is absolutely no point,” he says.

“I think my survival was very lucky

and I have to use this survival to do

something good now.”

“drenched in blood” and the bone of

his arm was shattered. “When I got

up from the place where I had been

shot, I saw my friends around me,

friends I had been in lessons with and

playing around with in the morning,

the dead bodies lined up on the floor,

I had to go around them. I tried not

to focus on that. The only emotion at

that point was: what the hell is

happening? Is this real? I couldn’t

take it in that I had been shot.”

He followed a few injured pupils

into a side room. Although he was in

agony, Ahmad tried to comfort the

other children. “Some were shot in

the back near the spine. There were

guys who had had half their face

blown away and they were still alive.

When I looked at those people my

injuries seemed minor even though I

was in a lot of pain.” He watched a

teacher slowly bleeding to death. “She

had been shot in the abdomen.”

Then after about 40 minutes one of

the terrorists found their hiding place.

“He just started to shoot at the kids as

many as he could,” Ahmad says. “If he

saw a kid he would use his foot to see

if the guy was alive, then shoot them.

I was so lucky. My white shirt was

completely covered in blood, so I just

pretended that I was dead and I didn’t

move at all and he didn’t shoot me.

They moved out, then about two

minutes later they came pouring

something on the walls of this little

room and set fire to it.”

The heat became unbearable, and

he could hear another pupil groaning

in pain, so Ahmad crawled out to the

auditorium. “A rescuer came running

to me and picked me up. I was half

unconscious because I had lost so

much blood but I said, ‘there are

more kids in that room who are still

alive’.” By the time he got to hospital

15 minutes later he was unconscious.

When he came round the next

afternoon he told his parents: “The

way I survived is a miracle.” But the

physical and psychological pain was

immense. “It was an extremely hard

time. I couldn’t sleep, every time I

would go into rest I would get a

sudden shock through my body, like

an electric shock. I had nightmares

for over a year. I was scared to sleep

because every time I would sleep it

would all come up.”

To start with he had no idea that

his brother had died. When he found

out, he says: “That was the most

painful time, way worse than the

gunshot wound because he was just

one year younger than me, we were

very close to each other.” Haris had

managed to escape from the hall but

then for some reason turned back.

Ahmad Nawaz came to

Birmingham to be treated

after he was shot in the

arm by the Taliban

Ahmad Nawaz

Curriculum vitae

Born January 3, 2001

Education Army Public

School, Peshawar in

northern Pakistan;

Harborne Academy, King

Edward’s School,

Birmingham

Family Lives in

Birmingham with his

parents and two

younger brothers

Quick fire

Instagram or Snapchat?

Instagram

TikTok or Twitter?

Twitter

Grime or pop?

Pop dominates my

music gallery

Nando’s or Five Guys?

I’m a massive fan of

Nando’s

Rowing or debating?

Debating

Netflix or BBC? Netflix

Birmingham or

Peshawar? That’s a

tough one. Birmingham

is fantastic but probably

Peshawar

ANDREW FOX FOR THE TIMES; ARTHUR EDWARDS/THE SUN

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