Raising a hero: ‘Saluting son’s coffin a proud moment’

Capt Husnain was martyred in blast near Afghan border in Kurram Agency

PESHAWAR: He was a brave son of the soil. You should be proud of him.

These were the simple words of a subedar to the father of martyred soldier Captain Mahmoodul Husnain Nawaz during his funeral.

“I saluted my son’s coffin before taking it [to the graveyard] for a final journey.”

The 25-year old Pakistan Army officer was one of three soldiers that embraced martyrdom on October 16 as a result of an explosion in the Kurram tribal region.

He was part of the operation in which American-Canadian couple Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle, along with their children, were rescued. According to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement, Capt Husnain and two sepoys were targeted by an explosion near the Afghan border. The team was part of the operations to trace the handlers of the foreigners rescued by the army, the ISPR said after the incident.

“I feel proud of my son who sacrificed his life for the country,” Husnain’s father Mohammad Nawaz told The Express Tribune in an exclusive interview. “He served the army, the country and the people with dignity and passion.”

The tribal region has witnessed unrest for several years, but the army’s operations have helped clear the area of insurgents. Several development plans have also been approved by Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Nazir Ahmed Butt. In North and South Waziristan, a number of projects have already been implemented, including the Younus Khan Sports Complex in Miranshah, Agriculture Park in Wana, and some cadet colleges.

The projects to be executed include the establishment of an Army Public School in Parachinar, construction of a double-storey hostel in Government Middle School, Khar, Orakzai Agency, a government girls high school and a hospital in Ghilijo, and other schemes for improving the infrastructure.

Promising career

Capt Husnain got his early education from the Government High School in Nankana Sahib and got admission to Government Postgraduate College in the same area for intermediate studies. After passing the exams with top grades, a scholarship was offered to him to for furthers studies in one of Pakistan’s reputed educational intuitions – National University of Science and Technology (NUST). “He never took shortcuts it his studies,” says Nawaz, who is the principal of a government college. He says Husnain was an honest, hardworking and down-to-earth man who bagged a gold medal in communication engineering.

During his studies, he applied to join the army as a commissioned officer and became part of the Signals Corps.

His father says he used to play the harmonium and listen to music in his leisure time.

Nawaz said Husnain fell sick few days before the rescue operation in Kurram Agency, and his family had gone to see him while he was admitted at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Peshawar. That was the last time they saw him alive.

“I am fine now,” Nawaz quoted his son as saying during a conversation a few days later, when Husnain was in the operation area. “He just told me he was fine and would talk to me some other time because he was on duty and that was always a priority for him,” Nawaz said, adding that a day before Husnain’s martyrdom, he missed a call from his battalion at around 10pm.

Fateful call

“‘Please start preparations for the funeral’… I woke up to with this call one day from a major, informing me about the martyrdom of my son in Kurram Agency,” Nawaz recalls.

Husnain was the oldest of Nawaz’s three children – all boys – and got married two years ago.

His wife – an associate professor as NUST – must now raise their six-month-old son on her own.

Nawaz says he is proud of his son, and that his entire family, including his daughter-in-law, feels the same way.

Husnain’s funeral in Parachinar was attended by the Peshawar corps commander, who paid tribute and respect to the brave son of the soil. He was later laid to rest in his hometown of Nankana Sahib with full military honours.