To be without parents, home or friends is what makes life not so happy and worth living. Being not recommended at the ISSB for the very first time had made me already heart broken.
As I pursued my higher studies at a private university unsure whether I will have enough money to finish my study that my mentor pursued me to make my second attempt. Being heart broken and unsure I made a half hearted attempt to be greeted by guardian angels within the institution who held me by the hand till I got my joining letter to join PMA 153 Long course.
All along, I met a boy at CMH Rawalpindi , who was so respectful, supportive and helpful as I struggled to pass my medical. He would dutifully keep me informed of what day and examination it was at the CMH Rawalpindi . I thought he was there appointed by the divine to guide me till the very end.
We both joined the PMA Kakul academy but different battalions. He being at the 2nd and I the 4th, yet it was a consolation we were together behind the same four walls. He always out shone at the drill that made his heavy voice supported by strong built and soldierly appearance known to all at the Academy .
During our endurance and survival training, a day would come when we missed breakfast and continue with our rigorous training regime . He would come running to look for me and take me to a corner and share with me biscuits that he kept for himself for difficult times. We endlessly talked our hearts out and I opened up to him seeing in him rebirth of my own dead mother, who always looked for me to know whether I ate or not and she ensured I ate more like he did.
He was homesick and wanted to return home as the first term was coming close to end . I joked with him that being on short course I will pass out and not return to the academy after the first term. He sent me text just a day before congratulating me for my passing out without knowing he was passing away. The sun set of his life awaited him at his own home town and mosque during Maghrib prayers, where he shed his drop of blood and breath his last.
He was hit by bullets but I am hit harder to live with the trauma of his separation and the quest to find the answers of why and who him away from me when I needed him so badly . I will tell him know when we meet next as he would continue to live for forever, but I will not be able to see him and miss me whenever I go through rough times in life.
Arif Ullah’s martyrdom at his home town of Lakki Marwat has given me the reason to live and fight for his cause of serving others . May Allah keep our motherland safe Ameen – Words of GC Saad Khan 153 Long Course 🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰
