Captain Husnain Shaheed and Pak Army’s Honor Code
By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Westridge, Rawalpindi
It was a fine Sunday morning. Almost relaxing in the Kurram Agency FC Wing Headquarters, Captain Husnain was on a video call with his wife and one-and-a-half-year old son when he received the information that a convoy from his wing had been hit by IED. He told his wife that he had to go and will be back by the evening.
While bidding them goodbye he saw the smiling face of his son and somewhat worried expressions in the eyes of his young wife. He hurriedly put on his gear and rushed to the site of the incident with Quick Reaction Force.
On reaching the scene, he saw that two IED blasts had occurred and the possibility of more IED blasts could not be ruled out. One rescue party had been hit by an IED before his arrival. Seeing a few bodies scattered and some of his soldiers lying in a pool of blood he instinctively told his JCO that he was going to rescue them. The JCO tried to stop him saying, “Sir, Aagay mat jayein aur bhi IEDs ho sakti hain”. But the fearless officer replied, "Main in zakhmi jawano ko is halat main nahin dekh sakta." He rescued two of his soldiers and stepped forward to rescue his third comrade when a blast occurred blowing him into pieces. Probably the last thing that would have flashed before his eyes would have been the innocent smiling face of his son and the anxious worried looks in the eyes of his young wife.
Captain Husnain embraced shahadat at 0745 hours on 15 October 2017 in the Kurram Agency. Yet another brave soldier had given his life while responding to the call of duty. Alas, he too like many others before him, shall fade away in the winds of time. No one would even remember Captain Husnain after a few days. The few left behind to mourn his shahadat for the rest of their lives will be his bereaved family. The infant son will have a few pictures of his brave father to adulate. The young wife shall have tearful eyes to cry in silence for the rest of her life.
A question that could surface in the minds of many would be: What motivated this young captain to forget everything - literally everything - and plunge into the proverbial valley of death without fear for his own life to rescue his men?
I guess it was the honour code of the officers of the Pak Army that reads:
The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first always and every time.
The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.
Your own ease, comfort and safety come last always and every time.
Capt Husnain we are proud of you – nay - the whole nation is proud of you.
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