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A LITTLE-KNOWN HERO OF ARMY AVIATION

It was early morning of 4 th January 1972 when Major Muhammad Qasim took off from Gujranwala Strip (a flight of No 2 Army Aviation Squadron had been moved to Gujranwala to support the operations of field formations). It was late in the afternoon when flight headquarters at Gujranwala received a telephone call from GSO-2. The caller wanted to talk to Major Qasim and apologized for not sending the vehicle at Satrah Strip where Major Qasim was to land. He was surprised when informed that Major Qasim had not returned, as according to him Major Qasim had left an hour ago.

It was then that the search for the missing aircraft started. All the inquiries revealed that Major Qasim took off from Satrah for Gujranwala at 1200 hours on 4 th January 1972, in L-19 (No-003) with 2nd Lieutenant Muhammad Humayun Raza, a Bengali officer of 24 Signal Battalion, on board. The air force agencies and the troops on the Forward Defended Localities were contacted but nothing was known except Major Qasim had taken off from Satrah. Soon after, the BBC and the All India Radio broke the news of the hijacking of a L-19 and that Major Qasim had been shot dead.

It was revealed later, that when Major Qasim landed at Satrah, 2nd Lieutenant Humayun Raza contacted him and requested for a lift to Gujranwala. Major Qasim in his usual helpful attitude and politeness promised to pick him up after he completed his mission. He, however, also advised him to get permission from the divisional headquarters for the airlift. After dropping the brigade commander in Pasrur, Major Qasim, on his way back, landed at Satrah to pick up this officer, not knowing that the passenger had different plans and was going to be his assassin.

According to the team responsible for maintaining the strip, Major Qasim took off and then made a circuit as if to land back but went around on finals. This information, and the position of the wounds after post mortem, revealed that one bullet was fired at the right cheek which went through the left cheek and the second bullet was fired from the right ear which penetrated the brain. It indicates that 2nd Lieutenant Raza probably had threatened Major Qasim to turn towards India soon after take off, but on refusal, and seeing him attempting to land back, fired the first round. This first round was not fatal and Major Qasim still attempted to land back. This is also validated by the accounts of eye witnesses on ground, who described the aircraft banking and then straightening up. It is at this stage that Humayun fired the second fatal round. After shooting Major Qasim, this officer, knowing a bit of flying, flew towards India and crash-landed in the fields not too far from the border. (This Bengali officer had gone through some flying before being suspended due to lack of aptitude, prior to the war.)

A few words about the assassin. More than the so-called Bengali patriotism, assassin Raza wanted to avoid the punishment he was to receive from the Division Commander the following day for driving without license and running over an old woman.

Major Qasim's body was received from India on 7th January 1972 ie, after four days of his shahadat. Major Qasim was awarded Sitara-i-Jur'at for the act of bravery and supreme sacrifice in an effort to uphold the honour of his motherland. Later, Army Aviation Base Dhamial was named after Major Muhammad Qasim. It is now known as Qasim Army Aviation Base.

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[Major Muhammad Qasim was born on 1st October 1939 in Village Adina, District Mardan. He was commissioned in the Corps of Signals in October 1960. He attended Basic Flying Course P-6 in 1964 and was posted to No1 Army Aviation Squadron. He took active part in 1965 War and flew many operational sorties. In 1969 he qualified as Flying Instructor on L-19 from Flying Instructor School, PAF Academy. Major Qasim served as instructor in Army Aviation School from 1969 to 1971, and in the last week of November 1971, he was attached with No 2 Army Aviation Squadron.]

Never knew about this story reference ac kashif tufail
 
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