Not every soldier falls on a battlefield. Capt M Tahir Shaheed fell thousands of miles from home, wearing the blue helmet of a peacekeeper. He served a mission the world barely notices. His sacrifice is no smaller for the distance.
On 24 October 2010, Capt M Tahir Shaheed drowned at Kandeja Beach in Monrovia, Liberia. In addition, he served there on a United Nations mission. He was an officer of the 106th Long Course, serving with the 81 Medical Regiment and the 13 Engineers. Sixteen years later, the nation still marks the day he did not come home.
Capt M Tahir Shaheed: An Officer of the 106th Long Course
Capt M Tahir Shaheed earned his commission through the 106th Long Course of the Pakistan Military Academy. He served with the 81 Medical Regiment and the 13 Engineers. These are the arms of the Army that build, heal, and keep an army moving. Engineers raise bridges and clear roads. Medical men carry the wounded. Their work rarely makes headlines. Above all, no campaign survives without them.
After that, when Pakistan sent its soldiers to Liberia as part of the United Nations mission there, he went with them. Pakistan’s soldiers have served in UN missions around the world for decades. They keep the peace in countries torn by war. They do it far from their own families, in places whose names most Pakistanis will never learn.
The Day Capt M Tahir Shaheed Embraced Shahadat
Finally, on 24 October 2010, the sea at Kandeja Beach took him. The water gave no warning and no second chance. A young officer had crossed an ocean to keep the peace for strangers. He never returned to the country he served.
However, there is a particular ache in a death like this. No enemy bullet struck him. The water took him on a foreign shore, while he did his duty. Meanwhile, his family in Pakistan received the news from a continent away. The distance between Monrovia and home has never closed for them.
The Original Tribute
The tribute posted in his honour reads as follows:
Today is 16th shahadat anniversary of Capt M Tahir Shaheed
On 24 Oct, 2010, drowned in Kandeja Beach, Monrovia Liberia, when he was posted there during UN Mission
Pride of Nation. Pride of 106L/C ex 81 Med Regt/13Engr
Never Forgotten
As a result, every year on 24 October, his shahadat anniversary returns, and tributes honour an officer whose service carried him far beyond Pakistan’s borders. The men and women who wear the uniform on UN missions carry the nation’s name into the world’s most broken places. Therefore, when one of them does not return, the debt is the same as if he had fallen at home.
Above all, remember this: He went to Liberia so that others could live in peace. That is what soldiers do, wherever the nation sends them. May Allah bless his soul and grant him a lofty station in Jannah.
Read also: Capt Roohullah Mohmand Shaheed: The Shield of Quetta and Sepoy Adnan Hussain Shaheed: One Final Stand.
