He had waited years for that one morning — the morning he would finally walk out of PMA Kakul with the rank of an officer of the Pakistan Army. When that morning came, Second Lieutenant Usman Liaqat of 144 Long Course carried the pride of his family and the dreams of a lifetime on his young shoulders. He had only days to live.
On 17 October 2021, just days after his passing-out parade, 2/Lt Usman Liaqat — posted to the 48 Supply & Transport Battalion of the Army Service Corps — was kidnapped and murdered by his native friend, a man from his own hometown whom he had trusted. A young officer who had survived the hardest military training in the country was taken not on a battlefield, but by treachery.
A Dream Fulfilled, Then Stolen
Every cadet who enters the Pakistan Military Academy carries the same dream: to earn the uniform, to stand among the officers of the Pakistan Army, to serve the nation. For two years of the 144 Long Course, Usman Liaqat endured the drill square, the obstacle courses, the sleepless nights — and he made it. He passed out. He became an officer.
His family watched him graduate with tears of pride. In those few shining days between his commissioning and his martyrdom, he was living the life he had worked so hard to earn. No one at the passing-out parade could have imagined that within days, that same family would be burying their son.
The Cruelty of the Betrayal
There is a special cruelty in how 2/Lt Usman Liaqat was taken. Soldiers accept the risk of the battlefield — it is part of the oath they take. But Usman was not lost to an enemy’s bullet. He was kidnapped and murdered by a friend from his native place, someone he knew and trusted. It was not war that claimed him; it was betrayal.
That betrayal is exactly why the nation refuses to forget him. A martyr is a martyr — and Pakistan honours the son who wore its uniform, whatever hand took him from us.
Pride of 144 Long Course
Five years have passed since that October day. His course mates from 144 Long Course have risen through the ranks, served in units across the country, and built the careers he never got to build. But on every 17 October, they remember the coursemate who left them too soon — the young officer of 48 S&T ASC whose journey ended almost before it began.
2/Lt Usman Liaqat Shaheed remains forever young in the memory of the nation: the officer who fulfilled his dream and was taken days later, the pride of his family, the pride of 144 Long Course, the pride of the Pakistan Army.
May his soul rest in eternal peace. He will be remembered — forever.
