Four years after they passed out together, they gathered again. The officers of the 146 Long Course returned to mark the anniversary of the day they became officers of the Pakistan Army, the day their shared life in uniform began. But no passing-out anniversary in the Pakistan Army is complete without a pause, and without names spoken aloud: the names of the coursemates who are no longer here.
On 8 October 2022, among the names the 146 Long Course honoured were three of their own: GC Monis Mushtaq Shaheed, GC Abid Ali Shaheed, and Captain Abuzar Farooq Shaheed of 99 Ordnance. That is the tradition of the Pakistan Military Academy. The fallen are still on parade. They are still counted. They are still part of the brotherhood.
Four Years of Brotherhood
The 8th of October 2022 marked four years since the 146 Long Course passed out of PMA Kakul, together with the 34 Technical Graduate Course, the Integrated Course, the 20 Lady Cadet Course and the 5 Basic Military Training Course. Passing-out anniversaries are among the most cherished traditions of the Pakistan Army: the coursemates who trained, sweated and dreamed together return to stand together again, and to remember those who cannot.
That day’s honours told the story of a remarkable course. The Sword of Honour went to Academy Senior Under Officer Muhammad Daood of the 146 Long Course. The President’s Gold Medal went to Battalion Senior Under Officer Shoaib Akmal of the 146 Long Course. The Overseas Gold Medal went to College Senior Under Officer Jaggat Paudal of the 146 Long Course, from Nepal. The COAS Cane was earned by College Under Officer Mudassir Amin of the 34 Technical Graduate Course, and the Commandant’s Cane by College Under Officer Haider Ijaz of the 64 Integrated Course, College Under Officer Zunaira Shafqat of the 20 Lady Cadet Course, and College Junior Under Officer Hira Irfan of the 5 Basic Military Training Course.
It was a day of pride and celebration. But the truest measure of a course is not in its medals. It is in the names it refuses to forget.
The Martyrs of the Course
Amid the celebration, the course paused to honour its martyrs: GC Monis Mushtaq Shaheed, GC Abid Ali Shaheed and Captain Abuzar Farooq Shaheed of 99 Ordnance. Gentleman Cadet Monis Mushtaq wore the uniform of the Pakistan Army with pride, and his name is spoken with honour among the officers of his course. Though his journey in uniform was cut short, the respect he earned from his fellow cadets endures to this day.
GC Monis Mushtaq Shaheed gave his life for Pakistan. His comrades carry his memory with them, speaking of him not with grief alone but with the quiet pride of men who stood beside him.
The bond forged at the Pakistan Military Academy is unlike any other in a soldier’s life. Coursemates endure the same hardships, share the same barracks, and learn the same hard lessons at the same impressionable age. When one of them falls, the loss is felt not as a statistic but as the absence of a brother, and the course carries that absence to every reunion for the rest of their lives.
Why Courses Never Forget
That is why the recitation of martyrs’ names at passing-out anniversaries matters so deeply. It is the course’s way of saying that the fallen are still on parade, still counted, still part of the brotherhood. GC Monis Mushtaq’s name, spoken alongside GC Abid Ali and Captain Abuzar Farooq, keeps him present among the men he trained with.
The most faithful remembrance is the kind carried out by comrades, year after year, without fanfare. The officers of the 146 Long Course have kept faith with their fallen coursemates, and in doing so they teach every junior course what the brotherhood of arms truly means: that you never leave a man behind, not on the battlefield, and not in memory either.
That is the covenant of a Long Course, and it does not expire.
Remembered With Honour
GC Monis Mushtaq Shaheed wore the uniform with pride and earned the respect of all who knew him. His name stands alongside the martyrs of his course, a reminder that courage is not measured in years of service but in the commitment to serve.
May Allah grant him the highest place in Jannah, and may his family find strength in the knowledge that the nation remembers him. His sacrifice, and the sacrifices of all our shuhada, will never be forgotten.
