On December 16, 2014, Pakistan lived through one of its most horrific chapters. The attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar and the operation to clear out the terrorists unfolded in less than 10 hours, during which 147 lives, including those of 132 schoolchildren, were taken.

Ten years on, the effects from that day can still be felt; by the loved ones who continue their healing process as well as their search for closure, and by a nation still battling terrorism. This special report — for which Dawn.com spoke to 17 families, 17 survivors, first responders, state officials, and security analysts, and went through court records — is meant not just to look back at what was lost, but to look ahead at what can be learnt for the living.

The message was clear. The battle lines had been drawn and there was no going back. The Army Public School (APS) massacre appeared to provide that rare moment of clarity to a nation that had always tippy-toed around the threat of religious fanaticism — no more calls for dialogue and engagement; no more politics of appeasement; no longer would violence be allowed to simmer at the peripheries so long as it didn’t boil over into the mainstream. There would now be no distinction between the good and bad Taliban, vowed voices from the power corridor.