He was praying Maghrib when the firing started. On 25 October 2024, GC Arif Ullah Shaheed embraced martyrdom inside a mosque in his hometown of Lakki Marwat. Today, on his 2nd shahadat anniversary, Pakistan remembers a young cadet who never got to wear the officer’s rank he was training for.
First of all, Arif Ullah was a Gentleman Cadet of the 153rd Long Course at the Pakistan Military Academy. The young men of the Long Course train at Kakul, where they learn the soldier’s craft and the officer’s duty at the same time. After that, they pass out as officers of the Pakistan Army. Arif Ullah had chosen that hard road. He wore the khaki uniform and the purple beret of a cadet, and he carried the hopes of his family and his course with him.
GC Arif Ullah Shaheed: The Pride of 153 Long Course
GC Arif Ullah Shaheed belonged to the 153rd Long Course, and his course-mates remember him with pride. For example, the tribute shared in his honour calls him the pride of 153 L/C – AZB II and of Cadet College Razmak. That is a title a course does not give lightly. It belongs to the cadet who stood out among his own, the one his fellows looked up to and still miss.
At the same time, a Gentleman Cadet’s life is a life of early mornings, hard training, and strict discipline. The cadets rise before dawn, drill in the heat and the cold, and study late into the night. Their families wait at home, counting the days until the passing-out parade. GC Arif Ullah Shaheed lived that life with honour. His course remembers him for it.
The Day GC Arif Ullah Shaheed Embraced Martyrdom
On 25 October 2024, GC Arif Ullah Shaheed was praying Maghrib prayer in a mosque in Lakki Marwat when a firing incident took his life. He was home among his own people, in the house of Allah, when the bullets came. However, the years since have not dimmed his memory. Two years on, his course-mates and his family still mark the day. They still say his name with pride.
Later, the Commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy, Lt Gen Iftikhar Hasan Chaudhry, prayed at the same mosque where Arif Ullah embraced martyrdom. That visit says everything about how the Academy honours its own. A cadet who falls is never forgotten by the institution that trained him.
The Original Tribute
The tribute posted in his honour reads as follows:
Today is 2nd shahadat anniversary of GC Arif Ullah Shaheed
On 25 Oct 2024, GC Arif Ullah embraced martyrdom during a firing incident that occurred in his hometown Lakki Marwat, when he was praying Maghrib Prayer in a mosque.
Pride of Nation
Pride of 153 L/C – AZB II
Cadet College Razmak
Coursemate of: GC Umair Ul Mulk Shaheed
His Sacrifice, Our Future
The soldiers who guard this country stand day and night like a wall before the nation. They take the enemy’s bullet on their own chests so that it never reaches the people behind them. Their sacrifices guarantee the bright future the rest of us walk into every morning.
As a result, every year on 25 October, his shahadat anniversary will return, and tributes will honour a young life given in the service of the nation. Meanwhile, the country will remember GC Arif Ullah Shaheed’s services with pride. May Allah raise his ranks, grant him the highest place in Jannat-ul-Firdous, and bless Pakistan with peace and security.
Above all, remember this: he was young, he was brave, and he was ours. Will you keep his memory alive? Share his story, and let his course know that Pakistan has not forgotten its son. Pakistan will never forget him.
Read also: GC Habib Ullah Shaheed: Pride of TCC-34 and Lt Col Muhammad Yousaf Shaheed: The Only Son.
