VOA and RFE/RL report on Pakistan tragedy
Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty had extensive coverage of Tuesday’s tragic school massacre in Peshawar, Pakistan, with reporters on the ground, multimedia reports, and breaking news coverage of the attack.
VOA’s Deewa Radio and Urdu Service, which broadcast to Pakistan, had minute-by-minute coverage and in-depth analysis of the tragic incident. VOA’s reporters and cameramen on the ground sent live reports, videos and pictures of the tragedy, showing scenes from inside the school that was attacked, as well as funerals, markets closed due for mourning, and reactions from civil society.
VOA interviews included victims’ families, eyewitnesses, officials, politicians and analysts discussing all aspects of the attack. Deewa Radio interviewed Suhail Khan, who himself survived the attack but lost his two elder brothers Shumail and Nangyal. After attending his brothers’ funerals, he told VOA Deewa, “They were elders; they were taking care of the family too; I do not know how my family will survive now. An uncle of the two murdered students said: “We want an end to the killing of Pashtun kids. What is our fault?”
The father of Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousufzai sent VOA Deewa a video message that Malala had recorded condemning the attack. The teenage education activist was herself a target of a Taliban attack in 2012.
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal was on location at the site of the December 16 terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, hosting a live blog that gathered the Service’s reporting on the carnage, the many victims who were treated at Lady Randolph Hospital and the victims’ families waiting for news of their loved ones.
Mashaal’s coverage of the tragedy was widely quoted and cited in international media, including the CBS Evening News, Vice News, Yahoo News, Fox News, and the websites of The New Yorker and The Atlantic.