Islamabad: Heroes of the 1965 war were remembered at an event organised to celebrate Defence of Pakistan Day and to launch four books highlighting the heroics of armed forces personnel who sacrificed their lives to protect the country. War heroes and their families, ministers, academicians, media persons and a large number of students attended the event and refreshed their minds of the extraordinary achievements of Pakistani soldiers in the 17-day war with India in 1965. The Jang Group was the media partner of the event. The event featured inspirational speeches by guests, sharing of memories by war heroes and those who were closely linked with them, poetry recitation by university students and live performance by Arieb Azhar. Besides that, small documentaries on the books launched at the event were also screened to introduce the war heroes highlighted in the books. Written by Colonel (r) Azam Qadri, the books revolve around the lives of ‘ghazis’ and ‘shaheeds’ of armed forces and reflect tremendous research work done by the writer to bring forth the hidden inspiring stories of Pakistan’s real heroes. The first book ‘What More Can a Soldier Desire?’ is an autobiography of Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed. The book provides an insight into the life of a legendary soldier who is the highest decorated officer in the history of Pakistan Army. The book mainly consists of the letters written by Major Shabbir Sharif to the author. The book covers Shabbir Sharif’s stature as a human being, his day-to-day dealings with his friends, his unwavering spirit and a glimpse into his brave actions. “It is not easy to describe a person of Shabir Sharif’s stature and also give him due credit. I have, however, made a humble attempt to carry out further research and find out more about him,” said Colonel (r) Azam Qadri. The second book was the Urdu translation of Major Shabbir Sharif's autobiography. The third book by Colonel (r) Azam Qadri and Group Captain Muhammad Ali titled ‘Sentinels in the Sky’ covers the life of 100 war heroes of Pakistan Air Force. “Finding the heroes, including officers about whom even the Air Headquarters had little information and data, and going door-to-door for collection of memories and information was an uphill task,” said the author. “I am sure that through these books, people will get to know about these great men, who may have somehow got unnoticed.” The fourth book ‘Heroes of Pakistan: Nishan-e-Haider’ was started by the author when he was writing a series of articles ‘Heroes of the Pakistan’ for daily newspapers. Through this book, the writer has tried to retrace the lives of 11 war heroes, who received ‘Nishan-e-Haider’ for leading their men in exceptional manner. “The Volume-2 of this book will be about the sacrifices of civilian armed forces. I am in the process of collecting information for the next volume and have written letters to different departments to assist me in getting information,” he said. "Unfortunately, I have not received any response from the relevant departments yet." Speakers at the event termed these books a tremendous contribution in recording the anecdotes of real heroes of the nation and said that it will be a treasure of knowledge for generations to come. “We need to learn how to value our real heroes of armed forces instead of talking about our military only in terms of martial laws,” said Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Lieutenant General (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch who was the chief guest on the occasion. Minister of State for Federal Education, Professional Training, Interior and Narcotics Control Muhammad Balighur Rehman, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Marvi Memon and Higher Education Commission Chairperson Dr Mukhtar Ahmed were also present on the occasion. “Army enjoys a special status in any country. They volunteer to sacrifice their lives for the country. There is no compulsion on anyone to join the army. When someone decides to become part of this setup, he or she actually volunteers to die for the country,” said Lieutenant General (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch who confessed that it pains him when armed forces are unduly criticised at different forums, particularly in the National Assembly. He talked about close coordination between Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif on operation ‘Zarb-e-Azab’. “We have destroyed the structure of terrorism in the country. There is a visible realisation among all groups whether in Karachi, Balochistan and other parts of the country that taking up arms is no solution and issues can be only be resolved through democratic ways. Abdul Qadir Baloch also shared his memories of working with Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed. “I salute mothers, daughters and wives of war heroes for embracing the sacrifice of their sons, brothers and husbands with such grace,” he said admiring the families of war heroes. Minister of State Balighur Rehman said that the government has formed National Curriculum Council, which will start functioning in this financial year. “The council will develop minimum national curriculum with the agreement of all regions which will stay same in the curriculum of all schools,” he said. He said that after 1965, the country is again united the same way. “Public and all stakeholders are with the armed forces in elimination of terrorism and corruption in the country,” he said. BISP Chairperson Marvi Memon stressed the need to share more positive and inspiring stories such as those shared in the books. “When we are inspired by positive stories, we perform better in our jobs,” she said. She highlighted the need to inspire poor through stories of heroes so that they start struggling harder to change their lives and come out of poverty. Managing Director Jang Marketing Sarmed Ali said "We sleep in peace because our armed forces stay awake to protect us." He said that besides acknowledging the achievements of the heroes of civilian and military armed forces, there is also a need to recognise heroes who gave us conscience through their writings. In the end, mementos were distributed among the guests.
