Pakistan releases Rs 45 mn for treatment of Peshawar attack survivors

Peshawar: Pakistan on Friday released Rs 45 million for the treatment of thirty injured students of an army-run school in Peshawar which was the scene of a ghastly Taliban attack in December that killed 150 people, mostly students. [caption id=“attachment_2112649” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  School children escorted out of the Army Public School after the attack. AP[/caption] An amount of Rs 1.5 million per student has been transferred to the accounts of their parents and majority of the injured students have also reached Karachi where they would receive treatment at the Agha Khan Hospital, senior minister for Health Shahram Khan Tarakai said. In a statement, Tarakai said that a Special Medical Board set up by the provincial government had referred 30 injured students to Agha Khan Hospital Karachi, on which the provincial government after proper estimation of the expenditures has released an amount of Rs 45 million, which includes boarding, lodging and travel expenditures. Out of the 30 students, 19 have already reached Karachi while the rest will reach Karachi in a couple of days, he said. Taliban militants stormed the Army Public School in the northwestern city of Peshawar in December, killing 150 people, including 136 children, in Pakistan’s bloodiest-ever terror attack. Many survivors are still traumatised and psychiatrists suggest they need long-term therapy and mental health counseling to recover from the shock of the devastating experience. PTI