==Influence==
==Influence==
Zaki Patel, a computer science technologist, with his wife, Syeda Zaki, a social entrepreneur, started a web campaign to collect the funds to build the schools. The couple is from Karachi, but resides in Canada. He founded 141schools.org, and used the hashtag #141SchoolsforPeace for marketing on [[Twitter]]. He hoped that 141 people would join him, though a greater number of people signed up from many countries, including Pakistan, the U.S., India, etc.<ref name=amnatft>{{cite news |author=Amna Khawar |title=141 of them |url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/13-Feb-2015/141-of-them |access-date=21 November 2025 |work=[[The Friday Times]] |date=13 February 2015}}</ref><ref name=zareentd>{{cite news |author=Zareen Muzaffar |title=Healing Pakistan’s Wounds by Building 141 Schools for Peace |url=https://thediplomat.com/2015/05/healing-pakistans-wounds-by-building-141-schools-for-peace |access-date=21 November 2025 |work=[[thediplomat.com|The Diplomat]] |date=5 May 2015}}</ref>
{{quotebox|width=25%|”Storytelling is going to be a really important part of this where we can perpetuate positivity out of something quite horrific”.|source=~ Zaki Patel, founder of 141schools.org<ref name=amnatft/>}}
==See also==
==See also==
2015 single by Ali Zafar
| “Urain Ge” | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Title cover |
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| Language | Urdu | ||||||||||||
| Released | 7 February 2015 (2015-02-07) | ||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2015 | ||||||||||||
| Genre | Patriotic | ||||||||||||
| Length | 4:28 | ||||||||||||
| Label | Saga | ||||||||||||
| Songwriter | Ali Zafar | ||||||||||||
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“Urain Ge” (Urdu: اڑیں گے, lit. ‘Will Fly’) is a 2015 Pakistani song, written and produced by Ali Zafar. It was released in honour of the victims of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, and to support the campaign titled 141 Schools for Peace with The Citizens Foundation.
Background
In 2014, Pakistan faced military disputes and political instability, when Pakistan Armed Forces launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan against various groups, including Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in the wake of terrorism,[1][2] and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) launched the 2014 Tsunami March protest against the alleged fraud in the 2013 Pakistani general election and demanded justice.[3]
Later, on 16 December 2014, six gunmen attacked inside the Army Public School, Peshawar, killing 132 children and 9 school staff members, making it one of the world’s deadliest school massacres. The children were forced to see their teachers dying, including their principal, Tahira Qazi. Pakistan Army‘s Special Service Group (SSG) launched a quick rescue operation and killed the terrorists. They rescued an estimated 960 people, though 139 were injured.[4][5]
Omar Khalid Khorasani, TTP’s spokesperson, took responsibility for the attack and claimed it was a revenge against the Operation Zarb-e-Azb.[6][7] A day after the attack, PTI’s chairman Imran Khan also called off his march protest.[8] The school reopened on 12 January 2015.[9]
Songwriting and recording
~ Ali Zafar, who endorsed TCF’s 141 Schools for Peace campaign[10]
Ali Zafar cancelled his concert tours and events soon after the incident, including the one in Durban, South Africa, on New Year’s Eve. Weeks later, he went to his studio to write and record the song “Urain Ge”. It was released on 7 February 2015 via ARY Digital Network.[11][12][13]
To record the music video, directed by Bilal Khan, he gathered several celebrities from the country at a studio in Korangi, Karachi. They included Sajjad Ali, Jawed Sheikh, Humaima Malick, Fahad Mustafa, Mohammed Ali Shehki, Fawad Khan, Meesha Shafi, Saba Qamar, Junaid Khan, Junaid Younus, Mehreen Raheal, Haroon Rashid, Haroon Shahid, Farhad Humayun, Hadiqa Kiani, Mikaal Zulfiqar, Gohar Rasheed, Fariha Pervez, Asad Ahmed, Shoaib Malik, Ahsan Khan, Anwar Maqsood, Sajid Hasan, Marina Khan, Sahira Kazmi, Ali Kazmi, Behroze Sabzwari, Bushra Ansari, Ali Azmat, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Bilal Lashari, Aamina Sheikh, Mohib Mirza, Humayun Saeed, Mehwish Hayat, Mahira Khan, Imran Abbas, and Sanam Saeed.[14][15]
Shahzeb Jillani wrote in BBC News that the song starts in a “grave” mood, but the rising tempo transforms the music into “something uplifting”.[16] Besides the showbiz unity in the music video, Zafar also appreciated the political unity after a long dispute in the aftermath of the Peshawar attack, and also urged a nationwide unity.[12][14][15]
Influence
The Citizens Foundation (TCF), an educational nonprofit organization that builds schools for underprivileged children in Pakistan, partnered with the 141 Schools for Peace campaign, and decided the locations across Pakistan to build the schools. The budgetary cost was estimated to be Rs. 2.07 crore.[a][18][19] Ali Zafar, whose parents are educationalists, also wanted to contribute to education and committed to supporting the cause by donating all proceeds from the song “Urain Ge”. Their collective aim was to build 141 schools and dedicate each school to a victim of the Peshawar attack.[10]
Reportedly, 23 schools were constructed by the first anniversary in December 2015. At Rs. 10 per legal sale of the song, Zafar donated about Rs. 2 lakh to the cause.[a][20] By the tenth anniversary in 2024, TCF announced that the mission to establish 141 school units had been completed.[21]
