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A dream that turned into a heroic tale!
Saadia Khalid
Islamabad
The history of Pakistan is full of heroic tales of army personnel
while fighting with the national and international challenges. The
martyrdom of four SSG commandoes from Kahuta, Mandi Bahauddin and
Karor (Layyah), a few days back have added a new chapter in the book
of history.
Captain Najam Riaz Raja, one of the martyrs made the country feel
proud of having such a brave young personnel who sacrificed his life
in his blooming youth while fighting against the militants in Swat
during ‘Rah-e-Haq’ operation.
He was on duty at Khawaza Khilla border when Taliban abducted him
along with his three fellows and killed them after 24 days on May
11, 2009 when the security officials did not release seven Taliban
who were in their custody.
Being the youngest in the family, Najam was an apple of eye for all
his family members, especially for his mother, who could not control
her emotions and cursed those who abducted his beloved son and later
killed him.
“I can forget the pain of his killing, but I could not forget the
pain of those 22 days which Najam had spent in imprisonment of
Taliban,” said her mother with tears rolling down from her cheeks.
In her trembling voice she said that his last words were still
haunting her mind in which he said “‘Ammi please don’t cry after my
death’. At that time I thought he was just kidding but later on it
revealed that he was very much right,” she said while adding that he
had handed over his watch, bracelet and belt which she gifted him
saying that he would take them back if he returned safely.
Sharing some moments of Najam’s childhood, she said that Najam was a
very naughty child who had a very technical mind and always keep on
experimenting with his toys. “One day he inserted the wires of his
airplane (toy) in to the socket which resulted in a big bang,” she
said while laughing.
His four sisters namely Waheeda, Shabana, Saima and Sadia who were
making plans for their brother’s wedding when got news of his death
could not resist their feelings of pain and sorrow. “Alhamdulillah
he died as a martyr, but we could not forgive the cruel Taliban who
have taken the life of Najam when it was his time to get married,”
said his sister Shabana.
“He had three wishes in his life — one to join army, to become SSG
commando and to die as martyr,” told his youngest sister Saadia
while talking to this scribe.
While his elder sister Waheeda had too much to talk about his
brother and kept on crying while remembering some nostalgic moments.
“He used to say that I am married to army and could not afford to
re-marry with a girl,” she said.
She very proudly said that her brother broke the neck of eight
Taliban when they came close to them in order to record their
beheading scenes on camera to show them to their colleagues and
discourage them.
Referring to a text message sent by Taliban, his brother Anjum said
that he tried his level best to contact Taliban on the number but
failed. “They asked me to persuade army officials to release seven
Mujahideen otherwise they would kill Najam,” he said.
His father Raja Riaz very proudly calls his martyred son
“Khitta-e-Potohar ka Sher (Loin)” who made the people of this region
to feel proud. “It was my wish that Najam joined army and I am very
happy over my decision,” he said.
The family of Najam maintained that the operation against Taliban
should continue, as they are not even human beings because they are
involved in barbaric acts of killing innocent people.
The
News: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 |
