Premier Urges Award for Boy Who Halted Pakistan Attack
The announcement came after calls had grown across the country to honor the teenager, Aitzaz Hasan, a ninth grader from the Hangu district of the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province.
The bombing took place on Monday near a boys’ school in the village of Ibrahimzai. Aitzaz, 15, grew suspicious when a man wearing the same school uniform as his asked for directions. The teenager then tackled the stranger as he tried to flee, and the stranger detonated his explosives.
Prominent Pakistanis, journalists and social media campaigners have called Aitzaz a hero and have even compared him to Malala Yousafzai, the teenage girl who was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for defying their ban on female education.
Pakistani students sit next to a picture of Aitzaz Hasan, who died stopping a suicide bomber from attacking his school in northwestern Pakistan.
Abdul Rehman / Associated Press
Mr. Sharif, in a statement on Friday, asked the country’s president, Mamnoon Hussain, to approve the awarding of the Sitara-e-Shujaat, or Star of Bravery, on Aitzaz. “Aitzaz’s brave act saved the lives of hundreds of students and established a sterling example of gallantry and patriotism,” Mr. Sharif said in his statement.
While the recommendation is considered a formality and is expected to be accepted by the president, it received a somewhat tepid response by some who said it did not go far enough, since the Star of Bravery is not the country’s highest civil award.
Sherry Rehman, an opposition politician and a former Pakistani envoy to the United States, suggested on Twitter that the teenager should be given the country’s highest award for bravery.
In another fatal blast this week, police officials in the southern port city of Karachi confirmed on Friday that it was a suicide car bomber who killed a senior police investigator,Muhammad Aslam Khan, who was more widely known as Chaudhry Aslam, on Thursday. Initially, police officials speculated that the blast had been caused by roadside explosives set off remotely as Mr. Aslam’s convoy passed by.
Zafar Abbas Bukhari, a deputy inspector general for the Karachi police, said on Friday that forensic tests had confirmed that a vehicle packed with explosives had rammed into Mr. Aslam’s vehicle, setting off a blast heard for several miles.
Mr. Aslam was buried on Friday after his funeral services were held amid high security. He had led numerous operations against Taliban militants and other criminals, and had survived several assassination attempts. His reputation for bravado and his flamboyant style had won him many admirers, as well as many enemies, officials said.
A faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Zia ur-Rehman contributed reporting.
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