LAHORE: Pakistan Army martyr Major Ishaq was laid to rest with full military honours at Shauda Qabristan at Cavalry Ground on Thursday. Earlier, the funeral prayer for the martyred officer was offered at Ayub Stadium amid presence of relatives, family members and civil-military officials, including Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Corps Commander Lieutenant General Amir Riaz. The chief minister expressed condolence to the heirs and consoled them. He offered fateha for the martyred and also shouldered the coffin. He paid rich tributes to the great sacrifice of Major Ishaq and said that the persons sacrificing their precious lives for the defence of the country were the heroes of the nation and the Pakistani nation was proud of the great sacrifices of its brave sons. He said that Major Ishaq had given his blood for the motherland and peace had been restored due to the great sacrifices of great sons of the nation like Major Ishaq. He added that the sacrifices of brave sons of the nation would bear fruit, and that the Pakistani nation would never forget the sacrifice of Major Ishaq. Major Ishaq, 28, embraced martyrdom during a search operation conducted on a tip off about the presence of terrorists in a hideout in Kulachi area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s DI Khan district. In his tweet, the ISPR chief said, “We have a sacred duty at hand of cleansing and defending our motherland; WE SHALL DO IT.” In a follow-on tweet, Ghafoor reiterated that sacrifices by the martyrs of the motherland would not go in vain. On Wednesday, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other military officials attended the funeral prayer in absentia to pay tribute to the martyred soldier in DI Khan before the body was handed over to the family members at his Wapda Town residence for last rites. Published in Daily Times, November 24th 2017.