Major Muhammad Tufail

Major Tufail was born in Hoshiarpur in 1914 and commissioned in the 16 Punjab regiment in 1943. After a distinguished career, which included several instructional and command appointments in his own Battalion and also in the Civil Armed Forces, he was posted to the East Pakistan Rifles in 1958 as a Company Commander. Also in august, Indian troops captured a village in East Pakistan. Major divided his men in three groups and it was decided that they would launch the assault during the dark hours of 7^th august. When majors group was about fifteen yards from enemy, they came under heavy fire and three bullets entered major’s stomach. Despite the shower of blood from his stomach, he kept moving forward and silenced the machinegun with a grenade. When another enemy machine-gun opened fire, killing his second in command, Major Tufail destroyed that gun too with a well-aimed grenade. During the hand-to-hand encounter that followed, he noticed the commander of the Indian post moving silently to attack one of his men. Though fatally wounded, Major Tufail crawled towards the enemy commander. He stretched out one of his legs and as the enemy stumbled he hit him in the face with his steel helmet, saving his troop. Major continued directing the operation until the enemy was driven out leaving behind four dead and three prisoners. Due to lose of so much blood, major fell on the ground, and then got up and said to his officer “I have completed my duty, the enemy is on the run”. Major was taken to hospital but he later died the same day.

Rashid Minhas

Rashid Minhas or Rashid Minhas Shaheed, NH, (Urdu: راشد منہاس) (February 17, 1951–August 20, 1971) was a Pilot Officer in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) during the 1971 Pakistan-India War. ^[1]

Rashid Minhas belongs to famous Minhas clan of Rajput. he was born in Karachi. Having joined the air force, he was commissioned in 1971; on August 20 of that year, he was getting ready to take off in a T-33 trainer in Karachi when a Bengali Instructor pilot, Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman, gained his way into the back of the plane. He has been reported to have been watching Minhas closely for many weeks for his being new, young and inexperienced.In mid-air, Rahman knocked Minhas out with the intention of defecting to India along with the plane.

In mid-flight Minhas regained consciousness. After a tussle between the two pilots, the plane crashed. The cause of the plane crash is not known. Sources from Pakistan, including Pakistani Air Force's website claims that Minhas crashed the plane himself to keep it from reaching India , while the account from Bangladesh Air Force's website does not support this claim. The crash site of the T-33 was later found 40 km from the Indian border.

Minhas was posthumously awarded Pakistan's top military honour, the Nishan-E-Haider, and became the youngest man and the only member of the Pakistan Air Force to win the award. He also became a national hero. The Pakistan Air Force base at Kamra has been renamed in his honour. In Karachi he was honored by naming main street, Rashid Minhas Road (Urdu: شاہراہ راشد منہاس ), after him.

Major Muhammad Akram

Muhammad Akram (1938 – 1971), was born in Dingha Village, District of Gujrat, Punjab. He belonged to Awan tribe Pakistan, Urdu: محمد اکرم) was a major of the Pakistan Army, commissioned in 1963 as part of the Frontier Force Regiment.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, the 4th FF Regiment, which Akram commanded, were placed in the forward area of the Hilli district, in East Pakistan. The regiment came under continuous and heavy air, artillery and armour attacks from the Indian Army. For an entire fortnight, despite enemy superiority in both numbers and fire power, Akram and his men repulsed every attack, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. Akram died during this battle. He belonged to the village of Nakka Kalan in the district of Jhelum and his monument is constructed in the midst of Jhelum city. He was burred in village Boldar in Bengal.He is called hero of Hilli. Anjum Sultan Shahbaz famous writer and historian has mentioned him in the book Tareekh-e-Jhelum and Shohdai Jhelum. Akram was posthumously awarded the Nishan-e-Haider, Pakistan's highest military award.

Raja Aziz Bhatti

Major Raja Aziz Bhatti [Urdu: عزیز بهٹی] was a Pakistani soldier who received Pakistan's highest award for valor. He was born in Hong Kong in 1928. He moved to Pakistan before it became independent in 1947, living in the village of Ladian, in the district of Gujrat. There he enlisted with the newly formed Pakistani Army and was commissioned to the Punjab Regiment in 1950.

His father's name was Master Abdullah Bhatti, and his mother's name was Bibi Amna. He had four brothers, Nazir, Bashir, Sardar and Rashid, and two sisters, Rashida and Tahira. He himself had six children, four sons named Major Zafar Javed Bhatti, Dr Zulfiquar Ahmad Bhatti, Rafique Ahmad Bhatti, and Iqbal Javed Bhatti and two daughters named Riffat Bhatti and Zeenat Bhatti. Throughout his career, he was a brilliant officer and stood out in his class. He did very well at the Academy and was awarded the Sword of Honour best in his year's batch of 300 officers, and the Norman Medal. He received his honours from Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, who was later assassinated.

On 6 September, 1965, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 broke out between India and Pakistan. Major Bhatti was posted in the Burki area of Lahore sector. As the company commander, Major Bhatti chose to move his platoon forward under constant firing from Indian tanks and artillery. For three or more day's he went without rest. He resisted for five days and nights defending a Pakistani outpost on the strategic BRB canal. On 11 September, he was reorganizing his company and directing the gunners to shell the enemy positions. In order to watch every move of the enemy, he had to place himself in an elevated position, where he was exposed to enemy fire. He led his men from the front under constant attack from Indian Artillery batteries. Although he countered every Indian offensive in his area, he was hit by an enemy tank shell in the chest while watching the enemy's moves, and thus dying instantly. His death struck many hard and is remembered by many.

A day before his death, the commanding officer had sent to him word that since he had been fighting untiringly for the last six days, he should take a little rest and that another officer was being sent to replace him. Major Aziz, who was filled with a battle spirit and the will for martyrdom replied, "Do not recall me. I don't want to go back. I will shed the last drop of my blood in the defence of my dear homeland". He is buried at his village in Ladian in the Gujrat district.

Each year, Major Bhatti is honoured in Pakistan on 6 September, also known as Defence Day. Bhatti was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider, the nation's highest military award for gallantry for the exemplary courage he displayed till his death.