Aitzaz Hasan, a 15-year-old ninth grader, died after the suicide bomber he tackled blew himself up, according to The New York Times.
Hasan was already late for school and was rushing along with two friends to catch their school's morning assembly. The three were stopped by a stranger who was wearing their school's uniform to ask for directions. Hasan grew suspicious of the stranger and tackled him when he tried to flee. The stranger triggered the bomb's detonator killing himself and Hasan.
"It made my cousin suspicious, and he inquired about the person's identity and why was he never seen in the school earlier," Zahidullah Bengas Hasan's cousing told the Times in a phone interview. Bengas is from Ibrahimzai, a village in the Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, which is known for sectarian violence. "The person tried to escape, and Aitzaz tried to tackle him. In this struggle, the bomber blew himself up."
"What is unfortunate is that Aitzaz lost his life," Bengash, Hasan's cousin, told the Times. "What is fortunate is that he saved the lives of hundreds of other students."
Hasan's death led to a national outcry and angst and Pakistanis are already calling him a hero. Some are even calling Hasan as Pakistan's male version of Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old girl who was shot in the head and neck after defying the Taliban's ban on school attendance by girls. Yousafzai survived.
Prominent Pakistani journalists, bloggers and Twitter users have started urging the Pakistani government to honor Hasan for his heroic feat. However the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hasn't issued any official statement about the calls for honoring Hasan.
"We must honor him," Nasim Zehra, a Pakistani journalist and talk show host, told the Times in an interview. Earlier on Thursday, Zehra went to Twitter and suggested that Hasan should be given Nishan-e-Haider, the highest Pakistani military award that is equivalent to the Medal of Honor.
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