The award has been given in recognition of his services to contribute in a youth anti- radicalization campaign in London.
Ahmed Nawaz – a survivor of the Army Public School (APS) attack in 2014 – received the Diana Award on July 1, 2019 becoming the first Pakistani to have earned this honour. The award has been given in recognition of his services to contribute in a youth anti- radicalization campaign in London.
The Diana Award was first announced after the tragic death of Princess Diana of Wales in 1999. Since then, the prestigious award has been received by over 45,000 ordinary young people for their extraordinary services for communities.
The award ceremony was held at the British Parliament. Ahmed Nawaz felt very honored to represent his country at the award ceremony.
Ahmed, now 18, was only 14 when the APS was attacked by extremists. He was badly injured in the attack while his brother unfortunately lost his life. Three months after the incident he was shifted to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment. Having recovered from both the surgery and the trauma, he released from the hospital to return to normal life.
Extremists target young people to brain wash them for carrying out violent missions in countries like Syria, Iraq, the UK and many other countries. In order to prevent young people joining the terrorist groups, Ahmed now tours schools around the United Kingdom to share his experiences so that students can avoid falling into the radicalization trap.
Though this was considered the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history, it is inspiring to see that after the attack many survivors have started to counter radicalization in Pakistan as well as abroad.
