He had walked the longest road a young Pakistani can walk, and he had reached the end of it. The tests. The training at PMA Kakul. The passing-out parade that families travel across the country to witness. Second Lieutenant Umer Farooq of the Pakistan Army had earned his commission into the 24 Sindh Regiment, and everything he had worked for was finally his. He was the pride of the 139th Long Course, a young officer full of promise, at the very beginning of the career he had dreamed of.
On 17 June 2019, his life was cut short in a road accident. And a family lost its only son.
A Dream Ended Too Early
To earn a commission in the Pakistan Army is the ambition of thousands of young Pakistanis, and 2Lt Umer Farooq had achieved it. He had taken his place among the officers of the 24 Sindh Regiment, wearing the uniform he had worked so hard to earn. His course mates remember him as the pride of the 139th Long Course, and that pride is not diminished by the manner of his passing.
He was the only son of his parents, which makes his loss all the more heartbreaking. Behind every officer who falls, whatever the circumstance, stands a family whose world is changed forever. For the parents of an only son, that change is total: every hope, every plan, every dream for the future was carried by that one young life. The parents who lose an only son lose more than a child; they lose the future they had imagined.
Remembering a Young Officer
Every year on 17 June, his memory is honoured by his course mates and all who knew him, seven years on. Though he fell in an accident rather than in battle, he was a soldier of Pakistan, and his death is mourned with the same dignity the nation extends to all its uniformed sons.
Not every soldier’s death comes in battle. Some come on ordinary roads, on ordinary days, far from any enemy. Yet the nation mourns them with the same honour, because the uniform does not distinguish between the manner of dying, only the manner of living. 2Lt Umer Farooq lived as an officer of Pakistan, and Pakistan remembers him as one.
He had earned his place among the officers of the Pakistan Army, and that achievement, and the promise it carried, is what his coursemates choose to remember. There is a particular sorrow in a life ended at its beginning: the loss is measured not only in what was, but in all that would have been.
Every Loss Is a National Loss
The young officer who has just earned his commission carries the hopes of his family, the pride of his course, and the promise of decades of service. When that promise is cut short, the grief reaches far beyond one household. It reaches his coursemates, who trained beside him and will carry his absence to every reunion. It reaches his regiment, which loses a young officer it had only just welcomed. It reaches the nation, which loses a son it had only just begun to know.
The nation’s remembrance cannot restore what was taken. But it can offer the one consolation that matters: that his name is spoken with honour, that his service is recognised, and that he is not forgotten.
Pakistan Remembers
2Lt Umer Farooq Shaheed served his country in the short time he was given. He achieved what thousands dream of and few attain. He wore the uniform with pride, and he earned the respect of all who knew him.
May Allah grant him Jannah and give his parents the strength to bear a loss no words can soften. Pakistan remembers its young officer, the pride of the 139th Long Course, and honours all its shuhada.
