It is September 6 and I have not seen any thread on the site on the subject, so here is mine, to honour the brave soldiers of Pak Army.
The best nishan-e-haider story that gives me gosse bumps is that of Lance Naik Muhammad Mahfuz. Although he attained martyrdom in the 71 war, I think it best describes the courage and tenacity of the foot soldiers of our brave army.
LANCE NAIK MUHAMMAD MAHFUZ (SHAHEED), NISHAN-E-HAIDER:
Born in Pind Malikan (now Mahfuzabad, Rawalpindi District) on October 25, 1944, Muhammad Mahfuz joined the Army on October 25, 1962. When war broke out in 1971, Lance Naik Mahfuz was serving in “A” Company of 15 Punjab Regiment deployed on the Wagah-Attari Sector. On the night of December 17-18, his company was assigned the task of occupying Phul Kanjri village located in the section. Platoon No. 3, to which Lance Naik Mahfuz belonged, was the forward unit in the assault and had to face torrential volleys of enemy fire from concrete Pill boxes. When the Company was about 70 yards from the Indian position, it was pinned down by unceasing frontal and cross fire from automatic weapons of the enemy. With the break of dawn, the enemy artillery also opened up. Fighting like a man possessed, Mahfuz, whose machine-gun was destroyed by an enemy shell, took over a light machine-gun from a gunner who had already fallen and advanced towards an enemy bunker from which automatic fire had inflicted heavy casualties on his Company. Wounded in the legs by shell splinters, he continued to fire, dragging himself forward. At the bunker he got up with almost superhuman effort and pounced on the enemy and was hit at point-blank range. His weapon dropped from his hand, but despite being unarmed and mortally wounded, he caught hold of an Indian Soldier and began to strangle him when another Indian bayoneted him to death.
After the ceasefire, the Commander of the enemy admitted to his Pakistani counter-part in a meeting that the like of the courage and tenacity displayed by Lance Naik Mahfuz had seldom been witnessed before.
Suroor, 10 shaheeds have been awarded Nishan-e-Haiders.
Captain Muhammed Sarwar Shaheed (38) 1948
Major Muhammad Tufail Shaheed (44) 1958
Major Aziz Bhatti Shaeed (37) 1965
Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed (20) 1971
Major Muhammad Akram Shaheed (33) 1971
Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed (28) 1971
Sowar Muhammed Hussein Shaheed (22) 1971
Lance Naik Muhammed Mahfuz Shaheed (27) 1971
Captain Sher Khan Shaheed 1999
Havaldar Lalak Jan Shaheed 1999
I still dont understand why they are caled shaheeds, they didnt die in a jihad, they died defending a piece of land and that. Nothing Islamic about that, plus given the fact that we started two out of the three wars.
I think they just died not shaheeds just plain dead.
Captain Karnal Sher Khan emerged as the symbol of mettle and courage during the Kargil conflict on the Line of Control (LoC). He set personal examples of bravery and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. He defended the five strategic posts, which he established with his jawans at the height of some 17,000 feet at Gultary, and repulsed many Indian attacks. After many abortive attempts, the enemy on July 5 ringed the post of Capt. Sher Khan with the help of two battalion and unleashed heavy mortar firing and managed to capture some part of the post. Despite facing all odds, he lead a counter-attack and re- captured the lost parts. But during the course he was hit by the machine-gun fire and embraced Shahadat at the same post. He is the first officer from the NWFP be awarded with Nishan-e-Haider.
Hav. Lalak Jan of the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) was one of those many who as a junior leader fought from the forefront to thwart heavy Indian attacks. He volunteered himself to be deployed on the front positions located at the jagged peak in May 1999. Hav. Lalak driven back many aggressive ventures by the enemy and imposed colossal losses onthem.On July7,Hav.Lalak sustained serious injuries as enemies pounded the area with heavy mortar shelling. But despite being injured, he retained his position and frustrated the Indian assault. He, however, succumbed to his injuries at the same post he was defending. Hav. Lalak was awarded with the Nishan-e-Haider for his dauntless courage and devotion.
