Pak sends Peshawar massacre survivors on healing trip to China

Ten students and two teachers, who survived the Peshawar school carnage by the Taliban, today left for a trip to China to help them recover from the shock of the devastating experience, officials said.
The students and teachers will spend about 10 days in Beijing as part of their rehabilitation programme.
The trip is the first batch of Army Public School (APS) students who were invited by the Chinese government after psychiatrists suggested that survivors need long-term therapy and mental health counselling.
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.

Dozens more were injured and some of them are still recovering in hospitals.
A security official said that many survivors are still traumatised and they need counselling and medical care to fully come out of the shock.

"The trip will help these survivors to divert attention and recover," he said.
The students from class 8th to 12th are accompanied by a family member each.
The security official said that more victims of the December 16 massacre will be sent abroad on such recovery tours in coming weeks.
They are expected to be taken to Hong Kong and Malaysia while the martyred pupils' parents will be sent to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to the annual Hajj.