KARACHI: Children at Karachi’s Iranian school rebuilt a classroom they had never seen, setting portraits of pupils killed in Minab on empty desks, as Iran’s consul general used the memorial to thank Pakistan for its solidarity and its mediation with Washington.
The ceremony at the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran honoured the students and teachers of Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school, which was struck on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran. It opened with recitation from the Holy Quran and Iran’s national anthem beneath the national flag.
The centrepiece was a tableau titled “Defence of the Homeland”, in which pupils recreated the Minab classroom and placed photographs of the dead inside it. Alongside ran an exhibition, “Dreams of Minab’s Students”, of writing and artwork by children of the Karachi school.
Consul General Akbar Isa Zadeh said the gathering was meant to honour the children and teachers who “were martyred on the very first day” of what he called illegal aggression by America and Israel.
Turning to his hosts, he said Pakistanis had stood with Iranians courageously from the outset, a response he described as proof of the old ties between the two nations. He praised Pakistan’s leadership for working tirelessly to lower tensions and mediate between Tehran and Washington, calling the effort commendable.
That effort has a long record by now. Islamabad brokered the ceasefire of April 8 and hosted the first direct US-Iran talks in decades. Field Marshal Asim Munir carried the same brief to Tehran in August, and Iran’s foreign ministry still describes Pakistan as the mediator even though fighting resumed in July. Donald Trump said last month that Iran had contacted Washington directly.
Speaking in the context of Iran’s Sacred Defence Week, Mr Isa Zadeh recalled that Saddam Hussein had also attacked Iran with Western backing and failed, which he credited to the spirit Iranians call Basiji thinking. He criticised what he termed the international community’s indifference and double standards over civilians killed in Iran, the Minab children and the people of Gaza, and urged firm action to halt Israel’s conduct.
The memorial came weeks after the school’s destruction was judged at the United Nations. An independent fact-finding mission reported on September 17 that there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed a war crime in the Minab strike. It found the building was clearly identifiable as a school, with murals, signage and a playground, and showed no sign of military use.
The mission counted more than 150 dead, about 120 of them children and at least 26 of them staff. Iranian authorities put the toll at 165. The Pentagon says it is investigating but has released no findings, and the same UN report also faulted Tehran over its handling of protests at home.
Amir Shushtari, who oversees Iranian schools in the subcontinent, East Asia and Australia, told the audience that the living owe the dead their studies. He urged pupils to pursue learning for their country’s progress and asked teachers to give the next generation the attention it deserves.
Social worker Shahrbanoo Valajahi paid tribute to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war. She said he had guarded the Islamic Revolution for nearly four decades and had given his life for unity.
The event closed with certificates for pupils whose exhibition entries won top places. It was the consulate’s second public gathering in recent weeks, after it marked Iran’s National Flag Day with a flag-hoisting ceremony. For Pakistanis the conflict is no distant matter. The war that began with Minab has shut the Strait of Hormuz and pushed petrol towards Rs395 a litre, which is one reason Islamabad keeps working the phones.
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