Icarus
RETIRED MOD
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The last article from this guy seemed to have gone viral so it was only fitting to post the second one as well. War is not always about killing the other, sometime's about being a good human being and this is what the latest story is all about.
Being a soldier is as much about being a valiant warrior as it is about being a compassionate human being, and very seldom is compassion observed in so pure a form as I observed it in L/Nk Zarwalli Yousafzai.
On 6 August 2008, FC Headquarters ordered Bajaur Scouts to establish a company sized post at Loesam. Anyone conversant in Pushto will know that Loesam means “Big Door” in the language, which relates to its significance as an important point of transit for traffic between Afghanistan and Pakistan going through Bajaur. It was for this reason that the militants had established their own headquarters and communications hub at the location and which in turn necessitated this action by the FC.
At the time, Bajaur was securely under militant control and Khar Fort remained the last bastion of Pakistan’s sovereignty over the area which local militant commanders had come to declare an independent “Islamic Emirate of Bajaur”.
During the effort to establish the said post at Loesam, a contingent of 150 men were dispatched under the command of Maj. Ejaz, TBt, Bajaur Scouts ex 9 Punjab accompanied by Subedar Fazl-e-Rabbi Shaheed, TSt of Bajaur Levies. The men were soon surrounded by over approximately 1500 militants who made it amply clear that there were only two ways this episode could end, through a mass surrender or a mass murder. Maj Ejaz and Subedar Fazal-e-Rabbi Shaheed did a commendable job of keeping their troops motivated and putting up fierce resistance despite a clearly dismal situation and unfavourable odds until they were finally given the order to exfiltrate from their position. The exfiltration was to take place in pairs so as not to avert enemy attention from the main body.
During the firefight, a significant number of men had sustained bullet injuries and among them was a young Toori soldier who had been shot in the foot and left unable to walk. He realized the gravity of the situation and made the brave decision to be asked to be left behind, sensing that he would slow down the exfiltrating troops and jeopardize the entire effort. L/Nk Zarwalli, a nursing assistant thought it was only fair to give the young soldier a fresh change of bandages before he withdrew. After the majority of the contingent had exfiltrated in pairs and very few men remained, it was L/Nk Zarwalli’s turn to leave but in a moment of weakness, the young Toori whose wounds he had been tending to grasped his hand and asked him not to leave and stay by his side. Knowing fully well that it would almost certainly mean death to be captured by the enemy, L/Nk Zarwalli could have easily turned down this request and escaped to the safety of Khar Headquarters but his esprit de corp and pure heart could not tolerate leaving an injured and weakened comrade to face his trials and tribulations alone, and so in a rare show of extraordinary bravery Zarwalli Yousafzai honoured his comrade’s request and stayed by his side and told his fellow able bodied soldiers to go on without him, as he awaited his imminent capture and less certain fate.
In November 2008, when a successful offensive had brought FC and Pak Army troops to the outskirts of Loesam, retreating miscreants had to leave those prisoners who could not accompany them behind. Among them was the young Toori who had asked Zarwalli to stay with him, he was recovered safe as he had been kept alive to be used as a bargaining chip when the situation allowed it, Zarwalli was also alive but had been taken by the retreating enemy to an unknown location. His trials were not yet over and he was to prove to be the light at the end of the tunnel for more men at their moment of weakness.
In March 2009, the Mamond Tribe was ready to concede to a document of surrender that called for the unilateral release of all prisoners being held without any exchange or compensation. To set the pace for the agreement and to demonstrate their willingness to abide by it, the Mamond arranged an understanding with the miscreants who held a draw where they randomly selected the names of six prisoners and offered to release them as a confidence building measure. Among the six names drawn, was L/Nk Zarwalli, but being the caring soul that he was, Zarwalli negotiated with his captors and asked them to release an elderly Khattak Havaldar in his stead as he reasoned that being captive was not good for his ailing health and that his family must find it difficult to deal with his absence and so Zarwalli perplexed his captors as well as his comrades with his kindness and willingly chose to extend his own period of captivity so someone else could be free. The instrument of surrender was violated which lead to an early collapse of any chance of peace with the militants and the operations restarted again.
February 2010 saw security forces move in for a final assault on Damadola, the militants were in no position to resist the security forces any further and knew that they would be swept away with the momentum with which the security forces were advancing. In a last ditch effort to stall the offensive, they held another draw to select ten individuals at random from among the prisoners. As fate would have it, Zarwalli was selected once more and had the opportunity to leave with the message for compromise intended for the security forces. But once again, Zarwalli could not bring himself to leave for safety while his comrades continued to bear through their unjust incarceration and once more he offered to forego his chance to be free and offer it to Sep Raza, on the grounds that he had been held for over 18 months and the language gap made it very difficult for him to follow and comply with his captor’s instructions.
L/Nk Zarwalli could not be allowed to sacrifice himself any more for his comrades, he had done more than any man should ever have to do for his fellow soldier and thus by mid-March, the security forces over ran Damadola, freeing all the captives including L/Nk Zarwalli who experienced life as a free man after almost 20 months in captivity where he spent his days looking after the health and well-being of his comrades and passing up opportunities to be released so that one of his comrades might get the chance of being with their family while he can continue to care for the rest. It was one of the personal highlights of my career to have managed to free forty seven out of forty eight captives taken in Bajaur, one of them was killed before I took command and I regret that he had to die at the hands of the militants but the fact that I was able to secure my men from the enemy without any exchange or payment of ransom would never have been possible if Zarwalli had not been there along with them to help them through these tough times and use his warmth and compassion to keep them motivated for a better tomorrow.
Act of Sacrifice — L/Nk Zarwalli Yousafzai (Bajaur Scouts) | Life as a Pakistani
Being a soldier is as much about being a valiant warrior as it is about being a compassionate human being, and very seldom is compassion observed in so pure a form as I observed it in L/Nk Zarwalli Yousafzai.
On 6 August 2008, FC Headquarters ordered Bajaur Scouts to establish a company sized post at Loesam. Anyone conversant in Pushto will know that Loesam means “Big Door” in the language, which relates to its significance as an important point of transit for traffic between Afghanistan and Pakistan going through Bajaur. It was for this reason that the militants had established their own headquarters and communications hub at the location and which in turn necessitated this action by the FC.
At the time, Bajaur was securely under militant control and Khar Fort remained the last bastion of Pakistan’s sovereignty over the area which local militant commanders had come to declare an independent “Islamic Emirate of Bajaur”.
During the effort to establish the said post at Loesam, a contingent of 150 men were dispatched under the command of Maj. Ejaz, TBt, Bajaur Scouts ex 9 Punjab accompanied by Subedar Fazl-e-Rabbi Shaheed, TSt of Bajaur Levies. The men were soon surrounded by over approximately 1500 militants who made it amply clear that there were only two ways this episode could end, through a mass surrender or a mass murder. Maj Ejaz and Subedar Fazal-e-Rabbi Shaheed did a commendable job of keeping their troops motivated and putting up fierce resistance despite a clearly dismal situation and unfavourable odds until they were finally given the order to exfiltrate from their position. The exfiltration was to take place in pairs so as not to avert enemy attention from the main body.
During the firefight, a significant number of men had sustained bullet injuries and among them was a young Toori soldier who had been shot in the foot and left unable to walk. He realized the gravity of the situation and made the brave decision to be asked to be left behind, sensing that he would slow down the exfiltrating troops and jeopardize the entire effort. L/Nk Zarwalli, a nursing assistant thought it was only fair to give the young soldier a fresh change of bandages before he withdrew. After the majority of the contingent had exfiltrated in pairs and very few men remained, it was L/Nk Zarwalli’s turn to leave but in a moment of weakness, the young Toori whose wounds he had been tending to grasped his hand and asked him not to leave and stay by his side. Knowing fully well that it would almost certainly mean death to be captured by the enemy, L/Nk Zarwalli could have easily turned down this request and escaped to the safety of Khar Headquarters but his esprit de corp and pure heart could not tolerate leaving an injured and weakened comrade to face his trials and tribulations alone, and so in a rare show of extraordinary bravery Zarwalli Yousafzai honoured his comrade’s request and stayed by his side and told his fellow able bodied soldiers to go on without him, as he awaited his imminent capture and less certain fate.
In November 2008, when a successful offensive had brought FC and Pak Army troops to the outskirts of Loesam, retreating miscreants had to leave those prisoners who could not accompany them behind. Among them was the young Toori who had asked Zarwalli to stay with him, he was recovered safe as he had been kept alive to be used as a bargaining chip when the situation allowed it, Zarwalli was also alive but had been taken by the retreating enemy to an unknown location. His trials were not yet over and he was to prove to be the light at the end of the tunnel for more men at their moment of weakness.
In March 2009, the Mamond Tribe was ready to concede to a document of surrender that called for the unilateral release of all prisoners being held without any exchange or compensation. To set the pace for the agreement and to demonstrate their willingness to abide by it, the Mamond arranged an understanding with the miscreants who held a draw where they randomly selected the names of six prisoners and offered to release them as a confidence building measure. Among the six names drawn, was L/Nk Zarwalli, but being the caring soul that he was, Zarwalli negotiated with his captors and asked them to release an elderly Khattak Havaldar in his stead as he reasoned that being captive was not good for his ailing health and that his family must find it difficult to deal with his absence and so Zarwalli perplexed his captors as well as his comrades with his kindness and willingly chose to extend his own period of captivity so someone else could be free. The instrument of surrender was violated which lead to an early collapse of any chance of peace with the militants and the operations restarted again.
February 2010 saw security forces move in for a final assault on Damadola, the militants were in no position to resist the security forces any further and knew that they would be swept away with the momentum with which the security forces were advancing. In a last ditch effort to stall the offensive, they held another draw to select ten individuals at random from among the prisoners. As fate would have it, Zarwalli was selected once more and had the opportunity to leave with the message for compromise intended for the security forces. But once again, Zarwalli could not bring himself to leave for safety while his comrades continued to bear through their unjust incarceration and once more he offered to forego his chance to be free and offer it to Sep Raza, on the grounds that he had been held for over 18 months and the language gap made it very difficult for him to follow and comply with his captor’s instructions.
L/Nk Zarwalli could not be allowed to sacrifice himself any more for his comrades, he had done more than any man should ever have to do for his fellow soldier and thus by mid-March, the security forces over ran Damadola, freeing all the captives including L/Nk Zarwalli who experienced life as a free man after almost 20 months in captivity where he spent his days looking after the health and well-being of his comrades and passing up opportunities to be released so that one of his comrades might get the chance of being with their family while he can continue to care for the rest. It was one of the personal highlights of my career to have managed to free forty seven out of forty eight captives taken in Bajaur, one of them was killed before I took command and I regret that he had to die at the hands of the militants but the fact that I was able to secure my men from the enemy without any exchange or payment of ransom would never have been possible if Zarwalli had not been there along with them to help them through these tough times and use his warmth and compassion to keep them motivated for a better tomorrow.
Act of Sacrifice — L/Nk Zarwalli Yousafzai (Bajaur Scouts) | Life as a Pakistani
