Survivors of a 2013 suicide bombing in Peshawar gather for Christmas mass, haunted by memories of the attack that killed 113 worshippers.
PESHAWAR: Hundreds of Christians gathered for Christmas mass under heavy security in northwest Pakistan, 12 years after suicide bombers killed dozens of worshippers at the same church.
The All Saints Church in Peshawar still bears the scars of the September 2013 attack, with metal shards etched into a wall next to a memorial for the 113 victims.
“Even today, when I recall that day 12 years ago, my soul trembles,” said Natasha Zulfiqar, a 30-year-old housewife wounded in the blast.
Her right wrist still bears a scar from the attack, which was claimed by an Islamist militant group.
“There was blood everywhere,” Zulfiqar recalled.
“The church lawn was covered with bodies.”
A damaged wall clock inside the church, its glass shattered, remains frozen at 11:43 am, the time of the explosion.
Church caretaker Emmanuel Ghori said the blast’s marks are still visible on the walls and etched into survivors’ hearts.
Christians make up less than 2% of Pakistan’s 240 million people and have long faced discrimination in the conservative Muslim nation.
The community, alongside other religious minorities, has often been targeted by Islamist militants over the years.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities during a Christmas ceremony in Islamabad.
He promised the law would respond with full force to any injustice against minority members.
For teacher Azzeka Victor Sadiq, whose father was killed and mother wounded in the blasts, the grief never fades.
“Whenever I come to the church, the entire incident replays itself before my eyes,” the 38-year-old told AFP.
