http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/27/every-man-dies-not-every-man-really-lives.html
The night of Sunday, May 22, 2011, will be remembered as one of the most haunting nights in the history of Pakistan. While Pakistan was still reeling from the killing of **Osama bin Laden **in Abbottabad on May 2, the 16-hour operation against terrorists at **PNS Mehran **served to add salt to the wounds of the nation.
At 10:40 pm I received a message from some course mates while having dinner together that a “P3-C Orion has been hit”. I **tweeted this instantly](http://twitter.com/#!/Ali_Abbas_Zaidi), seeking confirmation from the media as I did not know whether the aircraft was hit in the air or on ground. This was the first and last message I would hear from my friends, who were now engaged in the operation.**
At 12:54 am my social media feed read: My junior Lt Yaser and guards in his Squad are in the operation theater, the doctors are not confirming their condition, but saying that they have been shot – O negative blood is needed at PNS Rahat.
Just a few minutes later, we learnt that our brave junior had breathed his last](http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/25/yasir-laid-to-rest.html). A couple of my close friends had also been shot.
I remember playing cricket with Yaser; he was an amazing athlete and one of the brightest students at the College of Aeronautical Engineering, Risalpur.
His course mate Abdullah talks about his personality:
“I haven’t known a more genuine person. The academy really puts you to test and only a fortunate few come out victorious. Lt. Syed Yaser Abbas represented the best of his kind and always managed to pass with flying colors. As per tradition, we called him ‘Naval Yaser’ (since he was part of the Pakistan Navy). Yaser was very close to me. Any person who has been at a boot-camp, will realise that when we call our course mates, our brothers, we mean it in the truest sense.
Ever since the PNS attack, I have endlessly recalled and relived the memorable times I have spent with Yaser – teasing seniors, late night gatherings, group study sessions, sitting on the roof-top chatting until late night, watching T20 world cup matches, mast qalandar sessions and the MOHA, CS gaming sessions – the list is endless. Yaser would also be early to bed the night before an exam, while we crammed but somehow he still managed to get better grades than us. He was also the one in the group who always had a bag of eatables on hand.
Yaser’s most distinctive feature was perhaps his loud, hearty laugh that could be heard long before anyone saw him coming. He always insisted he was an introvert back home, but we never really got to see that side of him. He was always joking and fooling around.
Spontaneity was his forte. Yaser executed unplanned, last-minute trips with ease. He never shied away from helping anyone who asked for his help. Even if you asked him at 3 am to come over, there he would be with his car.
All of us had been, in the last four months, planning a reunion. Just a day before the PNS Mehran attack, Yaser told me, he probably wouldn’t be able to make it for the reunion because his leaves had been postponed. He asked that we carry on without him, to which I replied that we could wait until he was granted leave. Who would have known then, that he would be the cause of our much-awaited reunion. May Allah bless his soul.”
Yaser was chatting with his friend, Umair before resuming duty that night. **His ****last Facebook status update **](http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1017564044)reads: finding it hard to bear the unbearable, need guts!
And much like the proverbial teaching in the military: no guts, no glory – his bravery, courage and sacrifice will be remembered for a long time to come.
Written on the walls of College of Aeronautical Engineering are the words ‘The Few, The Proud’. Yaser is most certainly among the few who have made his college and everyone who knew him proud by being nominated for the Nishan-e-Haider.
With the media coverage Yaser has received, he may be known to many as the face of the PNS Mehran attack, but there are tens of thousands of young men like him who have died fighting for their country.
Terrorist sympathisers are quick to point out that it is the US who has brought their war into Pakistan among other defenses for these heinous attacks of terrorism. In the face of haunting attacks such as that on PNS Mehran, even the thought of a terrorist sympathiser among us is appalling.
I believe nothing can be more tragic for a nation, which is still confused about who their real heroes are.
BY: SYED ALI ABBAS ZAIDI
Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi is an aeronautical engineer, a poet and a social activist who is the founding force & chairperson of the *Pakistan Youth Alliance](http://www.pya.org.pk/). He can be found on Twitter](http://twitter.com/#!/Ali_Abbas_Zaidi) and *Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/aliabbaszaidi).
Salute to his parents and all other shaheeds parents who raise young brave jawan like him!! AND May Allah swt give them strength and sabr to cope with this unbearable loss!!
