The 66th martyrdom anniversary of war hero Major Tufail Muhammad Shaheed, the second recipient of Nishan-e-Haider, observed today (Thursday). Major Tufail Muhammad was born in 1914 at Hoshiarpur (now part of Indian Punjab). He got his commission in 1943 and joined the Punjab Regiment. At the time of partition, he opted to come to Pakistan, and thereafter he joined Pakistan Army, and got his first posting to 1/16 Punjab Regiment (later re-designated as 13 Punjab). During his professionally exceptional career, he served on several instructional and command appointments. In 1958, Major Tufail Muhammed was posted to East Pakistan as a company commander in a border militia battalion of East Pakistan Rifles (EPR). During his tenure of duty, the Indian troops infiltrated into Pakistani territory through the Pathoria Forest and captured a village in the area of Lakshmipur on the Pakistani side of the border.

His battalion was tasked to evict the enemy and the Battalion Commander ordered Major Tufail to launch an attack to push out the Indian troops from the village. The attack was launched on August 7, 1958. Taking cover of the darkness, he attacked the Indians by dividing his attacking force into three groups. During the assault on enemy positions, Major Tufail was hit by three bullets that pierced his stomach. He did not lose his wits, and using sheer willpower when he was bleeding profusely, he kept advancing towards his objective. During the attack, he spotted an Indian Light Machine Gun (LMG) that was making the task of attacking force difficult and even accounted for the shahadat of another officer. After locating this gun, he closed up and threw a grenade, silencing this LMG. With fatal injuries, he crawled further towards an enemy officer, who was aiming to kill a Pakistani soldier. In a hand-to-hand fight, Major Tufail struck the Indian officer’s head with his own steel helmet.

Despite being fatally wounded, he led the whole operation until all the area was cleared off the Indian troops. By his sheer presence and leading troops from the front, this brave son of the soil kept boosting the morale of his men, who were now entangled in hand-to-hand fight, and finally Indians fled, leaving behind four dead and three prisoners. By the time the operation was completed, he had lost a lot of blood and energy due to bullet injuries. At that juncture, he conveyed to his junior officer, “I have completed my duty; the enemy is on the run, you take over the command now”. With the mission now completed, Major Tufail took a sigh of relief, thanked Almighty Allah, and embraced Shahadat on August 7, 1958 smilingly, thus becoming immortal. For his act of bravery, showing great resilience and perseverance while leading from the front, killing an Indian commander despite being wounded in a hand-to-hand fight, something rarely displayed in war, he was awarded with Nishan-e-Haider.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan