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Complete Martyrdom Story of Captain Karnal Sher Khan – Nishan E Haider Recipient:

Captain Karnal Sher Khan was born in a Nawan Killi Village located in Swabi District of KPK Province. Karnal is the urdu word, which means Colonel. After the Martyrdom of Captain Sher Khan Shaheed, his elder brother told the media that parents of Captain Sher Khan Shaheed wanted him to be on the post of Colonel in PAKISTAN ARMY, that’s why Karnal becomes the first name of Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed.

The Village in which he was born named as Nawan Killi (mean New Village) and the name of the village has now been changed as the “Karnal Sher Khan Kili” (means the Village of Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed).

india illegally occupied the posts of PAKISTAN at Siachen Glacier back in 1984. PAKISTAN ARMY has vacated these posts due to the harsh winter season in the northern areas of PAKISTAN. On the other hand, india illegally occupied the posts by violating the sanctity of the Line of Control or LOC.

PAKISTAN’s effort to take back these posts from the illegal indian occupation turned out to be tough as PAKISTAN has fought for 15 years on the world’s highest battlefield.

On the other hand, indian army posted an entire division at Siachen Glacier. The main route for the supply of food and ammunition to the indian soldiers was the Srinagar-Leh Highway.

The road is constructed in the mountains and the biggest peak of the mountainous area was Tiger Hill that offered the best view of the northern areas. This peak gives india an aerial supervision advantage to monitor the situation of PAKISTANI Northern Areas.

The indian army had also previously used the hill to attack the positions of PAKISTAN from time to time.

The indian army vacated the Tiger Hill back in September 1998, as a part of routine winter exercise. The indian army supposed to reoccupy the hill in the summer season.

A total of 4 men of the indian army going along the Srinagar-Leh Highway lost contact with their base in May 1999.

The indian army immediately dispatched the team of 12 additional soldiers to find and locate the 4 MIA, but the 12 soldiers also lost contact with their army and also become MIAs (Missed In Action).

On the other side, PAKISTAN ARMY has retaken the vacated indian posts with the help of 1200 small force.

PAKISTAN ARMY has made this move to hold on for some time, till the indian division left no other option than to retreat due to the lack of essential supplies, including ammunition and food.

After knowing the situation, the india launched a full-fledged attack on the positions of the PAKISTAN ARMY soldiers that results in the 1999 Kargil War between PAKISTAN and india.

Significant Achievement of PAKISTAN ARMED FORCES during PAKISTAN-india 1999 Kargil War:

All the complexity of Tiger Hill consists of a total of 6 strategic posts, including Eastern Spur, Western Spur, Tiger Hill Top, Helmet, Rocky Knob and india gate.

The sources in indian army bluffed that PAKISTAN ARMY has deployed the Captain Karnal Sher Khan to defend one of these strategic complexes of Tiger Hill.

On the other hand, authenticated and reliable sources in PAKISTAN ARMY stated that Captain Sher Khan was responsible for setting up forward defense posts around the Mushkoh and Gultari Valley in Kargil and he had nothing to do with any of the strategic posts of Tiger Hill.

PAKISTANI Narrative proved correct later and indian narrative proved as wrong afterwards.

Tiger Hill was the most important strategic posts at Kargil and the highest elevation gives clear glimpse of the Srinagar-Leh Highway.

On the other hand, there are other active posts in the Siachen Glacier that could also be cut from the occupation of Tiger Hill by PAKISTAN ARMED FORCES.

Account from unauthenticated indian sources states that PAKISTANI SECURITY FORCES managed to retake up to five different posts in the Tiger Hill Complex for the protection of Tiger Hill Top.

The most important post the PAKISTAN ARMY has managed to capture was the Western Spur. This is the main post, which had to be occupied in order to launch any action to claim the Tiger Hill Top Post.

The indian army has given the task of isolation the Western Spur to the indian 8 sikh regiment, consisting of 800-1000 soldiers). The indian army given the task of bombarding to the indian 41 field regiment.

The Western Spur of the Tiger Hill was defended by the Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed with the 21 ordinary soldiers, who do not hold any specific rank.

The indian army and indian air force tried their level best from 26th June to 27th June to captured the Western Spur post, but they failed miserably in the end.

The fierce attack launched by the both the indian army and indian air force finally made Captain Karnal Sher Khan to go to a point of lower elevation.

One of the Captain Sher Khan Shaheed men embraced martyrdom during the attack and most of them were wounded.

Furthermore, the all the men of Captain Sher Khan were exhausted and their supplies were about to end.

Surprise Counter Attack By Captain Karnal Sher Khan And His Brave 21 Men on Coward indian forces:

At that time, one of the soldiers came to Captain Karnal Sher Khan and asked him what to do next.

Captain Sher Khan calmly listen the question of one of his soldiers and he replied back “Counter Attack”, which means to attack indian forces with all the fire power and ammunition they’ve left with.

The Soldier who came to Captain Sher Khan stunned after hearing the reply. Counter Attack on indian forces with full fire power at that time means suicidal, as the indian army has taken positions to counter any possible attack from Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed and his men.

The soldier asked, “Counter Attack”?

“Yes counter attack. The indians attacked my post at night, with heavy artillery and air support. I will attack them in broad daylight with the men that I have left,” Captain Sher Khan replied calmly.

Captain Karnal Sher Khan has very short experience of operations and he is in the operations field since November 1998. He knew very well the Drass sector from stone to stone. He had thought a good idea that could be used to take back the strategically important flank of Western Spur.

The 8 sikh regiment hasn’t used any of these areas during the attack, so Captain Karnal Sher Khan knows very well that the indian soldiers are not aware of their whereabouts.

During the night time, Captain Sher Khan Shaheed has positioned his men on these positions to launch the counter attack against the occupant indian forces.

Captain Sher Khan has strategically placed his compact infantry men and artillery to optimize their use for the counter attack on indian forces.

On the next day, Captain Sher Khan and his 21 men launched a full-scale counter attack on the occupant indian forces, who were busy occupying the strategically important Western Spur.

Captain Karnal Sher Khan has told his men to never stay on one position during the attack and keep changing their positions at regular basis to deceive the correct number of soldiers involving the attack. Captain Sher Khan and his men also identified the positions to be used during the attack.

After getting the final instructions from Captain Karnal Sher Khan, his men launched full-scale counter attack on indian forces and they were also changed their positions to no less than 8 places in total.

The counter attack launched by the Sher Khan and his men achieved astonishing success and the coward indian army soldiers began to run back like by leaving their weapons behind. Captain Karnal Sher Khan and his men killed the indian army like cats and dogs from the elevated tops of the hill.

This was the shortest battle of the entire Kargil War between PAKISTAN and india and it lasted for more than one hour in total. There were many reasons accounted for the success of the attack and the chief reason was the deployment of soldiers.

As the Captain Karnal Sher Khan men brutally killed indian army soldiers, all the indian guns immediately began to fire at the same spot from which the fire came. But the fire didn’t harm any men of Captain Karnal Sher Khan, as they’ve already changed their positions.

The second chief reason behind the successful counter attack from the Captain Karnal Sher Khan and his men was that the indian soldiers were not expecting an attack from the hill tops where Sher Khan and his men were deployed.

The third chief reason behind the successful attack was the timing of the attack. The counter attack starts at the most unexpected time and it took only 7 or 8 hours after the massive attack from indian forces towards the hill top.

Finally, there was the sheer ferocity of the surprised counter attack. Captain Karnal Sher Khan and his men knew very well that they are going into the attack that is considered as an impossible task. For this reason, they had no fear of death and this also makes Captainl Sher Khan and his men the better fighter during the nerve shackling battle.

After the forceful counter attack launched by the PAKISTANI SECURITY FORCES, including Captain Sher Khan and his men, all the coward 1000-1200 soldiers of the indian 8th sikh regiment began to retreat.

After seeing retreating the coward indian army soldiers, Captain Karnal Sher Khan came into the open and he recite “KALMA E TAYYABA” in Loud Voice. He picks his machine gun and start hunting the retreating indian soldiers like dogs and cats.

Captain Karnal Sher said, “Cowards!”, “Where are you running off to? I will not let you run away like this.”

The remaining brave soldiers of Captain began to steer the Western Spur and they sustain several casualties during the attempt, but they finally managed to reach the top and re-occupy the Western Spur.

Captain Karnal Sher Khan and his brave 21 men removed the indian flag from the hill and place the Sacred Flag of PAKISTAN and they began chanting slogans of “ALLAH O AKBAR” (means ALLAH IS GREAT).

Captain Karnal Sher Khan and his brave 21 men successfully managed to retreat the 8th sikh regiment and they’ve once again retaken the Western Spur from the retreating forces.

On the other hand, Captain Sher Khan was so much obsessed with the retreating coward indian forces.

Captain Sher said, “I am reciting the KALMA as you had dared me to.” he shouted, “Where are you running off to? Stop and fight. Make this my last KALMA if you can”.

After saying these words, Captain Sher Khan pick his machine gun and run after the retreating coward indian forces. Captain Sher Khan and his 10, 12 men open havoc wreaking fire on the retreating indian forces to add their woes.

Captain Karnal Sher Khan followed the retreating indian soldiers, until he reached the base camp of the 8th sikh regiment on the hill.

A majority of coward indian soldiers retreated to the Western Spur of Tiger Hill Top and came back to their base camp to save their lives. In the base camp, there were about 300 – 400 coward indian soldiers presented.

The indian army gave the counter attack order to the commanding officer, then the commanding officer hurled abuses at his officers by radioed back to the indian intelligence by saying that you said there were only 20 odd men presented on the hill.

But we were attacked by the soldiers of at least a company, including 150 men that has made their counter attack, killed our hundreds of men and retaken the Western Spur Top.

During the scenario, one man of the indian army told his commanding officer that the Commander of Enemy Forces was following them down to the base camp. By heating this, the indian commanding officer told his men not to worry, as one man cannot do anything in a base camp filled with hundreds of coward soldiers.

However, the indian commanding officer told his men to take the appropriate defensive measure to counter the probable surprised attack by the enemy.

As the coward soldiers of the 8th Sikh Regiment were busy in taking defensive positions, they were greeted by the loud voice of “ALLAH O AKBAR” (ALLAH IS GREAT), which is followed by the intense machine fire in all those areas where there is even the slightest movement is taking place.

The commanding officer of the indian army came out and stunned to see only one man, reciting “KALMA E TAYYABA” and dared the enemy forces to come out of their camp.

“Come out cowards! I will show you how to fight a battle,” Captain Karnal Sher Khan shouted the coward indian forces.

Hundreds of indian soldiers, who were frightened and afraid by the dare shown by Captain Karnal Sher Khan.

By seeing this, only 2 Sikh Soldiers tried to attack Captain Karnal Sher Khan, but their attack was no avail, as Captain Karnal Sher Khan brutally killed both the Sikh soldiers in seconds.

It was now obvious for the indian army that the attack was not launched by the entire company, but rather a single soldier.

The commanding officer of the indian army shouted and said to Captain Karnal Sher Khan, “You are surrounded from all sides ” the CO shouted to Sher, “There are no men with you. You cannot possibly kill us all. There does not have to be any unnecessary bloodshed. Lay down your weapon and Surrender”.

Upon hearing this voice, Captain Sher Khan instantly fired in the direction of Commanding Officer’s Voice and he shouted, “I would rather die than to surrender to you.”

While continuing the firing, Captain Sher Khan realized that all the ammunition in his machine gun has finished and he has left not even with a single bullet.

The indian soldiers after seeing that Captain Karnal Sher Khan ammunition has ended, came out in the open including their Commanding Officer.

Commanding Officer and indian soldiers both showed Captain Sher Khan that he have been surrounded from all sides. The indian soldiers began moving closer and closer and they began to further tighten the circle around Captain Karnal Sher Khan.

indian commanding officer said to Captain Karnal Sher Khan, “Look around yourself, There is nothing more that you can do.”

After listening the voice of the indian commanding officer, Captain Karnal Sher Khan looked around and found that he was being surrounded by more than fifty men of the indian army, who could open their fire on order by their commanding officer.

Surprisingly, Captain Karnal Sher Khan again recites the “KALMA E TAYYABA” once again. After sensing the situation, he found that the indian commanding officer was the closest to him. He immediately grabbed him and began to hit his head with his machine gun.

The indian commanding officer after seeing that Captain Sher Khan is refusing to surrender and was in fact going to attack on them even with his empty machine gun. The commanding officer of the 8th sikh regiment ordered his men to opened indiscriminate fire on Captain Karnal Sher Khan.

Upon hearing the order from their commanding officer, the indian soldiers instantly opened indiscriminate fire on Captain Karnal Sher Khan. The bullets hit Captain Sher Khan many times, he tried to attack the indian commanding officer for the third time, but of no avail.

Captain Karnal Sher Khan always believed in not dying at the feet of his enemy. He was about the 5 feet distance from the indian army commanding officer, which could clearly see that Captain Karnal Sher Khan made a desperate attempt of not fall down on the ground.

Finally, Captain Sher Khan sat down on the ground, with his knees bent and touching the ground. His machine gun was still in his hand at that time. The voice of the “KALMA E TAYYABA” has become lower and lower until it finally stopped.

THE SACRED SON OF SACRED COUNTRY PAKISTAN, CAPTAIN KARNAL SHER KHAN EMBRACED MATYRDOM FOR HIS SACRED GOD GIFTED COUNTRY PAKISTAN.

After seeing the Captain Sher Khan has become Shaheed, some of the coward indian soldiers move towards the body of Captain Sher Shaheed.

By seeing the intent of his soldiers, the commanding officer of indian army ordered his soldiers to stop. He told his soldiers that Karnal Sher Khan was a Brave Man and so, his body should not be desecrated at any cost.

He ordered his soldiers to bring t the body of Captain Karnal Sher to be brought to Srinagar rather than left at Tiger Hill.

The commanding officer of the indian army after finding that Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed is the Captain of PAKISTAN ARMY, he made sure that Captain Sher Khan gets a proper military treatment from indian side.

It was the same commanding officer of the indian army who wrote that Citations of Captain Sher Khan Shaheed, recommending him for the highest gallantry award of PAKISTAN. The same citation could be found at the residence of Captain Karal Sher Khan Shaheed at his residence in Fajounabad Charbagh, Swabi.

The citation reads, “CAPTAIN KARNAL SHER KHAN FOUGHT WITH UTTER BRAVERY AND HIS BRAVERY SHOULD BE ACKNOWLEDGED.”

The name of this indian commanding officer was M.P.S Bajwa and he retired as the brigadier in indian army.

When the body of Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed brought to his native Country PAKISTAN, he was given a full guard of honor and he is the recipient of the “NISHAN E HAIDER”, the Highest Gallantry Award of PAKISTAN.

Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed was the Brave and Sacred Son of this Sacred Country PAKISTAN, who gave all his life and every drop of his Sacred Blood for his Sacred Country PAKISTAN.

MAY HE ALWAYS REST IN THE ETERNAL PEACE AT THE HIGHER RANK IN JANNAH. AMEEN SUM AMEEN!