Daily Times

Pakistan Army has paid tribute to Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed on his 50th martyrdom anniversary for his gallantry and heroic action exhibited during the 1971 war in the Sulemanki sector. “On his 50th martyrdom anniversary, we pay tribute to Maj Shabbir Sharif Shaheed, NH, and a most gallant officer who received SJ in 1965 & NH during the1971 war for his heroic action in the Sulemanki Sector. His supreme sacrifice reminds us that no cause is more noble than the defense of the motherland,” the DG Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a tweet said. Major Shabbir, born on April 28, 1943 in Kunjah, Gujrat District, was commissioned in the Frontier Force Regiment on April 19, 1964. In December 1971 he, being a company commander, 6th Frontier Force Regiment, was ordered to capture high ground near Sulemanki Headworks defended by more than a company of the Assam Regiment supported by a squadron of tanks. Major Shabbir Sharif captured that area, killing forty-three Indian soldiers and destroying four tanks. Major Shabbir Sharif and his men repulsed a counter attack by two enemy battalions. On December 6, 1971, he was directly hit by a tank shell and embraced martyrdom.