The Father of the Nation(Quaid-i-Azam) Muhammad Ali Jinnah |
 Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born at Karachi on December 25, 1876. He was admitted to bar in England and then he returned to India and became an active supporter of The Indian National Congress. In 1913, he joined the Muslim League. In 1916, he was elected the president of the Muslim League, he was re-elected to this post again in 1920. He played an important role in bringing about the Lucknow Pact of 1916. In the Lucknow Pact, the Congress agreed to ensure a separate electorate for the muslim community. He resigned from the Congress in 1930 and channelised all his efforts towards the ends of the Muslim League. He headed the Muslim League and struggled until the creation of the Independent Pakistan. He was appointed the first Governor general of Pakistan. |
Allama Muhammad Iqbal |
 Iqbal, Sir Muhammad (1873-1938), philosopher, poet, and political leader, was born in Sialkot. In 1927 he was elected to the Punjab provincial legislature and in 1930 became president of the Muslim League. Initially a supporter of Hindu-Muslim unity in a single Indian state, Iqbal later became an advocate of Pakistani independence. In addition to his political activism, Iqbal was considered the foremost Muslim thinker of his day. His poetry and philosophy, written in Urdu and Persian, stress the rebirth of Islamic and spiritual redemption through self-development, moral integrity, and individual freedom.His many works includeThe Secrets of the Self (1915), 23); a long poem; A Message from the East (19and The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1934). |
Captain Muhammad Sarwar (Shaheed) - Punjab Regiment |
 Born in Lyalipur (Faisalabad) in 1910 in a family from Sanghori, District Rawalpindi and commissioned in Punjab regiment in 1944. In 1948 less then one year after independence, a war broke ok between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. During this war Indian forces positioned themselves on a mountain from where they could easily target Pakistani forces, therefore it was essential for Pakistan to take away that mountain from enemy. Sarwar launched an attack on enemy positions in the Uri Sector causing heavy casualties against a strongly equipped enemy. Sarwar's company came under heavy grenade, mortar and machinegun fire when it was within fifty yards of enemy. Sarwar was losing men constantly and by now he was also hit in the shoulder and he was bleeding badly, but he kept moving and got to the barbed wire. Sarwar wanted to cut this wire and launch final strike to capture the mountain. As caption was cutting the wire he was hit again, this time in the chest and he fell. That's how Caption Muhammad Sarwar sacrificed his life for the country and his men captured the territory. For his bravery and great leadership, Sarwar was awarded the highest military award, Nishan-e-Haider. |
Major Tufail Muhammad (Shaheed) - Punjab Regiment |
 Major Tufail was born in Hoshiarpur in 1914 and commissioned in the 16 Punjab regiment in 1943. After a distinguished career, which included several instructional and command appointments in his own Battalion and also in the Civil Armed Forces, he was posted to the East Pakistan Rifles in 1958 as a Company Commander. Also in august, Indian troops captured a village in East Pakistan. Major divided his men in three groups and it was decided that they would launch the assault during the dark hours of 7th august. When majors group was about fifteen yards from enemy, they came under heavy fire and three bullets entered major's stomach. Despite the shower of blood from his stomach, he kept moving forward and silenced the machinegun with a grenade. When another enemy machine-gun opened fire, killing his second in command, Major Tufail destroyed that gun too with a well-aimed grenade. During the hand-to-hand encounter that followed, he noticed the commander of the Indian post moving silently to attack one of his men. Though fatally wounded, Major Tufail crawled towards the enemy commander. He stretched out one of his legs and as the enemy stumbled he hit him in the face with his steel helmet, saving his troop. Major continued directing the operation until the enemy was driven out leaving behind four dead and three prisoners. Due to lose of so much blood, major fell on the ground, and then got up and said to his officer "I have completed my duty, the enemy is on the run". Major was taken to hospital but he later died the same day. |
Major Raja Aziz Bhatti (Shaheed) - Punjab Regiment |
 Born: 1928, Hong Kong, Commissioned: 1950, Punjab Regiment On 6th September 1965, as Company Commander in the Burki Area of the Lahore Sector, Major Bhatti chose to move with his forward platoon under incessant artillery and tank attacks for five days and nights in Defence of the strategically vital BRB Canal. Throughout, undaunghted by constant fire from enemy small arms, tanks and artillery, he organized the Defence of the canal, directing his men to answer the fire until he was hit by an enemy tank shell which killed him on 10th September 1965. |
Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas (Shaheed) - Pakistan Air Force |
Rashid Minhas or Rashid Minhas Shaheed (February 17, 1951-August 20, 1971) was a Pilot Officer in the Pakistan Air Force during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Minhas was born in Karachi. Having joined the air force, he was commissioned in 1971; on August 20 of that year, he was getting ready to take-off in a T-33 trainer in Karachi when a Bengali pilot, Matiur Rahman forced his way into the back of the plane. Rahman knocked out Minhas with some blunt object and tried to defect to India in order to join the liberation movement for Bangladesh. Minhas regained consciousness and realized that the plane was heading towards India. What happened next has not been ascertained, but it is widely believed that the ensuing struggle between Minhas and Rahman resulted in the crash of the plane just thirty miles from the border of India. For his act he was awarded the top military honour, the Nishan-E-Haider, and became the youngest man and the only member of the Pakistan Air Force to win the award. He also became a national hero. The Pakistan Air Force base at Kamra has been renamed in his honour. |
Major Shabbir Sharif (Shaheed) - Frontier Force Regiment |
 Born: 1943, Kunjah Village, District of Gujrat, Commissioned: 1964, Frontier Force Regiment Major Shabir Sharif as commander of 6 FF Regiment, was ordered in December 1971 to capture high ground near Sulemanki headwork defended by more than a company of the Assam Regiment supported by a squadron of tanks. In a well nigh super human action, for the next three days and nights after crossing a minefield and massive obstacles and killing forty three soldiers and destroying four tanks, Major Sharif and his men held two enemy battalions at bay. But after he took over an anti-tank gun from his gunner in an attack he was killed by a direct hit on the afternoon of 6th December. |
Jawan Sowar Mohammad Hussain (Shaheed) - Armoured Corps |
 Born: 1949, Dhok Pir Bakhsh (now Dhok Muhammad Hussain Janjua) Enlisted: 1966, DriverAlthough only a driver in the 20th Lancers, when war broke out in 1971 Sowar Muhammad Hussain took an active part in every battle in which his unit was engaged unmindful of any danger, no matter how grave. When he spotted the enemy digging in along a minefield near the village of Harar Khurd in December 1971 on his own initiative he directed accurate fire at the enemy resulting in the destruction of sixteen of their tanks. But while directing fire from recoilless rifles, he was hit in the chest by a burst of machine gun fire and died on 10th December 1971. |
Major Mohammad Akram (Shaheed) - Frontier Force Regiment |
 Born: 1938, Dingha Village, District of Gujrat Commissioned: 1963, Frontier Force RegimentMajor Muhammad Akram and a company of the 4th FF Regiment which he commanded in the forward area of the Hilli district, in East Pakistan in 1971, came under continuous and heavy air, artillery and Armour attacks. But for an entire fortnight, despite enemy superiority in both numbers and fire power, he and his men, in near super human ability, repulsed every attack, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. Major Akram died during this epic battle in 1971. |
Lance Naik Mohammad Mahfuz (Shaheed) - Punjab Regiment |
Born: 1944, Pind Malikan (now Mahfuzabad) District of Rawalpindi Enlisted: 1962, Sipahi Serving in the 'A' Company of the 15th Punjab Regiment, when the war started in 1971, Lance Naik Muhammad Mahfuz was deployed on the Wagah-Attari Sector in East Pakistan where his company was pinned down by unceasing frontal and cross fire from automatic weapons. Although his machine gun was destroyed by an enemy shell, Mahfuz advanced towards an enemy bunker whose automatic fire had inflicted heavy casualties. Even though wounded in both legs by shell splinters, when he reached the bunker he stood up and pounced on the enemy, but was hit. Although unarmed and amidst the enemy, he caught hold of one of the enemy and was strangling him when another bayoneted him to death during the night of 17th December 1971. |
Captain Karnal Sher Khan (Shaheed) - Sind Regiment |
Enlisted: 1990, Second Lt. Captain Karnal Sher and Hav. Lalak Jan joined those eight legendary heroes who received the highest military award of Nishan-i-Haider for laying down their lives in defence of the beloved motherland. 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 province to be awarded with Nishan-i-Haider. |
Havildar Lalak Jan (Shaheed) - Northern Light Infantry |
Lalak Jan Shaheed (1967-1999) was born in Yasin, District Ghizer, in the Northern Areas, Pakistan. After school he joined the Pakistan Army, and reached the rank of Havaldar. As a junior officer in the Northern Light Infantry, he fought against India in the Kargil War of 1999. He volunteered to be deployed on the front lines and drove back a number of attacks by the Indian army. On July 7 he sustained serious injuries as a result of heavy mortar shelling, but managed to defend his position and frustrate the attack before dying at his post. The Indian Military were so impressed by his courage and valor that they personally conveyed a message to the Pakistan Military to award Jan Shaheed a medal for his actions. Pakistan awarded him the Nishan-i-Haider, Pakistan's highest military award. Since Pakistan's creation, only ten soldiers in all have received this honour, and he was the first person from the Northern Areas of Pakistan, and the first Ismaili, to receive it. |
Naik Saif Ali Janjua (Shaheed) - Azad Kashmir |
Naik Saif Ali Janjua Azad Kashmir Regiment (Was awarded Hilal-e-Kashmir - an equivalent to Nishan-i-Haider) Date of Shahadat : 26th April 1948 |
