LAHORE: Homage was paid on Sunday to Major Shabbir Sharif, a valiant warrior who displayed unparalleled courage while defending the motherland and embraced "Shahadat" 44 years ago on December 6 at Sulemanki Sector during 1971 war.
He earned the highest gallantry award of Nishan-e-Haider. He was also recepient of Sitara Jurrat. He also won the 'Sword of Honour' from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul being the best cadet of his course.
The battalion of the Frontier Force Regiment in which Major Shabbir Sharif was commissioned, observes "Shabbir Day" annually with great solemnity and gratitude.
A contingent of Frontier Force Regiment paid homage to the valiant son of Pakistan Army by performing honour guard duties at his grave in Miani Sahib Graveyard.
Major General Fida Hussain Malik General Officer Commanding and Major General Kaleem Asif laid wreaths at his grave on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff and Corps Commander Lahore and offered Fateha.
Besides the sister and son of the Shaheed, senior officers of the Piffers Group were also present on the occasion.
Major General (retd) Zahoor Malik and Major General (retd) Ghaziuddin Rana laid a wreath on behalf of the Piffers, while wreaths were also laid on behalf of the Commanding Officer and all ranks of the unit.
It may be mentioned that Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed is the most decorated soldier of Pakistan Army. He enjoys the unique honour of being the proud recipient of Sword of Honour, Sitar-e-Jurrat and Nishan-e-Haider - the three most coveted awards of Pakistan Army.
In 1971, Indo-Pak war, Pakistan Army decided to launch an offensive on the Western front against the enemy. Major Shabbir Sharif, as commander of a company of 6 Frontier Force Regiment, was ordered to capture high ground overlooking Grumukhi Khera and village Beri at Sulemanki Sector.
The objective was defended by more than a company of the Assam Regiment supported by a squadron of tanks. On December 3, 1971 in a well organized superhuman action. He and his men fought valiantly and held two Indian Battalions at bay by killing 43 soldiers and destroying four enemy tanks.
Major Shabbir Sharif cleared the Jhangar post with utmost courage by fearlessly passing through the minefield laid by enemy and swimming across `Sabuna distributary' under intense enemy fire and led his company on high bund.
On the Bund, hand to hand fight ensued and he succeeded in clearing the enemy from their fortified trenches. The enemy launched several counter attacks to take back their position but Pakistani troops proudly stood the ground and repulsed more than 15 attacks and inflicted heavy losses to the enemy.
On the night 5/6 December during one of the attacks Major Shabbir Sharif jumped out of his trench, got hold of Indian Company Commander Major Narian Singh of 4 Jat Regiment and killed him single handedly in a hand to hand fight.
Valuable information was obtained from the documents recovered from the pockets of Indian Major. On the afternoon of 6 Dec 1971 enemy launched yet another counter attack preceded by air strike and heavy artillery shelling, Major Shabbir Sharif took over the duty of the gunner from his crew and started firing on the enemy tanks.
While this fight was on, one of the enemy tank fired at him which proved fatal and resulted into Shahadat of Major Shabbir Sharif. Thus Pakistan Army lost one of its outstanding young officer who fondly came to be known as `Superman' by his colleagues and superiors alike. He was posthumously awarded `Nishan-e-Haider'.
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