LAHORE: I joined the army via the Pakistan Military Academy in 1963 — those were good days. The army had pride and honour. The officers mostly travelled to work on cycles, and a few had private cars. Staff cars were used only for official duty. Any senior officer passed over would resign. I joined the 17 Punjab Regiment, and during my time Raja Aziz Bhatti was posthumously conferred with a Nishan-e-Haider and Shafqat Baloch a Sitara-e-Jurrat for defending Hudiara.
In this unit there were lots of stories of its performance under Brigadier Nowsherwan Khan, from the 1947-48 Kashmir/Chunj battle. There was this one particular one that I still remember. It was about Subedar Lal Khan, who had resigned in 1948. And even in 1965 soldiers knew the story.
Subedar Lal Khan was a very honourable and brave JCO (junior commissioned officer)who had done fairly well during the Second World War and was outstanding in all professional events including drill. In a couple of years he was to be promoted as subedar major. One fine morning as Duty JCO he was to mount the guard at the unit quarter guard. While inspecting the guard he missed his steps and could not keep in step with the guard commander, who was an NCO (non-commissioned officer).
After that, he came straight to the Adjutant’s Office took off his cross belt saluted and said: “Sir, I hereby resign my commission because I was outsmarted by the guard commander this morning.”
All efforts by the officers and the subedar major in charge failed to convince him to not resign, as it was not such a big issue. But Subedar Lal Khan stood firm and said If I continue to serve I shall not be able to face the NCO as well as my family. The only honourable thing for me is to go home with my honour and dignity.
That was the army I grew up with and fought two wars with — both times against India. An officer must know when to quit honourably.
Muhammad Shahbaz Thuthaal
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2012.
