In the line of duty: ‘Honour our children’

Sister of late Lt Yasir Abbas said he never let anybody speak against the military.

LAHORE:

“People should understand the sacrifices the military personnel are making to rid the country of terrorism,” the families of Syed Yasir Abbas and Captain Ali Mehmood Khan said. They said they wanted their children to be honoured.

Saba Jafar, mother of Syed Yasir Abbas, a casualty of the PNS Mehran terrorist attack, recalled that he had wanted to join the Pakistan Air Force as a fighter pilot. She said because of weak eyesight, he could not clear the physical exam and later joined the Pakistan Navy. She said he was the most obedient of her all children. She said his father, Syed Jafar Abbas, and both grandfathers, Syed Shahanshah Hussain and Col Aslam Chaudhry, had served in the armed forces.

Abbas was the only brother of three sisters. His sister, Zainab Abbas, said he never let anybody speak against the military or the country. She said their family had been planning a visit to a hill station in the north on Abbas’s next visit home. He was laid to rest at Cavalry Ground graveyard on Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2011.