Khizar Hayat Abbasi,
Trar Khel: Sardar Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir has paid glowing tributes to 1965 war veteran Sepoy Maqbool Hussain who was laid to rest at his ancestral village near Trar Khel town in Azad Kashmir on Wednesday night.
The funeral prayers of brave Pak Army Soldier and recipient of Sitara-e-Jurrat was offered at Murshad Abad (Nairian Sharif) before his burial with full military honour.
AJK President Sardar Masood Khan, Major General Azhar Abbas, GOC 12 Div, Commanders of local military brigades, civil officials and large number of local residents attended the funeral prayers.
“Death of our brave war veteran left us with heavy hearts but our heads are up high at the same time because of the great sacrifice he rendered for the country,” President Masood Khan said in his brief speech before the funeral prayer of Maqbool Hussain.
The land of which Sepoy Maqbool Hussain was belonged to had not only produced many military generals and high ranking officials but it was also liberated by the brave local tribes with the same patriotic spirit that the war veteran demonstrated during his forty long years in enemy captivity, Masood Khan said.
Maqbool Hussain preferred to get his tongue cut over divulging any military secret and thus his sheer patriotism made him incomparable in the eyes of the nation, the President said. He also saluted armed forces of the country for acknowledging the services of ex- soldier by giving him military burial.
“Honour given to a war veteran is in fact an honour given to the people of Azad Kashmir, Masood Khan said and added that people of this land had foiled nefarious designs of enemy many time in the past and they will continue to support our armed forces in defending frontiers of the country in future too.
Earlier funeral prayers of Sepoy Maqbool Hussain was also offered in Chaklala which was attended by COAS and large number of officers and soldiers to pay respect to him as national hero.
The brave soldier got injured and was taken prisoner by the Indian Army during the 1965 war. He was released in 2005 after spending 40 years in Indian jails. He breathed his last at the Combined Military Hospital, Attock where he had been admitted for the past few months.
