There is a particular kind of courage in the soldier who walks toward a bomb so that others do not have to. It is slow, deliberate work, carried out with steady hands and complete focus, knowing that a single mistake can be the last. On 25 December 2022, in Kohlu, Balochistan, Captain Fahad Khan of the Pakistan Army was doing exactly that work: searching for and clearing an improvised explosive device hidden by terrorists to kill and maim.
He did not come back from that search. During the operation, Captain Fahad embraced shahadat, along with four of his jawans who laid down their lives beside their officer. Five men. One officer, four soldiers. They went into the danger together, and they fell together.
The Mission in Kohlu
Captain Fahad Khan, of the 137 Long Course, serving with 11 Cavalry (Frontier Force), faced that December day in Kohlu with the calm resolve of a professional officer. IED clearance is work that leaves no room for error. It is done so that convoys can pass, villages can live in peace, and patrols can return home.
He was engaged in the painstaking task of locating and neutralising a hidden explosive, work that is carried out daily across Balochistan and the tribal districts by soldiers who understand the stakes perfectly. During the search and clearance operation, he embraced shahadat along with four of his jawans.
To die alongside one’s men, leading them into danger rather than sending them alone, is the mark of a true officer. Captain Fahad’s men followed him because he never asked them to face what he would not face himself. The 137 Long Course officer of the 11 Cavalry (Frontier Force) led from the front to his final moment.
A Sacrifice That Saves Lives
Every explosive device cleared is a road made safe, a convoy protected, a civilian life spared. The work Captain Fahad died performing continues to shield others from harm, and his sacrifice is measured not only in his own loss but in the lives his mission preserved. Every device found and cleared is a tragedy prevented, a family spared the knock on the door that brings the worst news.
Much of the heroism in the fight against terrorism never makes headlines. The soldiers who do this work carry that knowledge with them into every search: that what they are doing, quietly and methodically, is saving lives they will never meet. Captain Fahad Khan chose that work, and he performed it with the professionalism his training had given him.
The people of Kohlu, and of Balochistan more broadly, owe men like him a debt that is rarely spoken of but deeply felt. When an officer falls with four of his jawans, the loss is multiplied across five families, one regiment and one course. Yet it also multiplies the testimony: five men who trusted each other enough to face the danger together, led by a captain who would not send them where he would not go himself.
The Quiet Work of Saving Lives
In the Pakistan Army, the bond between an officer and his men is sacred: they train together, they serve together, and when the worst comes, they fall together. Captain Fahad and his four jawans embodied that bond to the very end. They were a team in life, and they are honoured as a team in death.
Each year on 25 December, his shahadat anniversary is observed with prayers and remembrance, three years on. May Allah grant Captain Fahad Khan Shaheed and the four jawans who fell with him the highest place in Jannah, and may He give their families sabr-e-jameel.
Pakistan Salutes Its Brave Sons
Captain Fahad Khan Shaheed of the 11 Cavalry (Frontier Force) gave his life in Kohlu so that others might live. He walked toward the bomb so that others would not have to.
Pakistan salutes him and the four jawans who fell beside him, today and always. Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of all our shuhada, will never be forgotten.
