10 October 2009 is a date etched in the Pakistan Army’s institutional memory. On that day, terrorists stormed the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi — the very heart of the nation’s military command. What followed was Operation Janbaz, a hostage-rescue operation that showcased the Pakistan Army’s resolve at its finest and exacted a heavy price.
Among the martyrs of that fateful operation were Brigadier Anwar Ul Haq and Lieutenant Colonel Waseem Amir — senior officers who led from the front when the crisis demanded it — alongside the SSG commandos and soldiers who formed the spearhead of the rescue: Sepoy Younis, Sepoy Rab Nawaz, Naik Qudrat Ullah, Havildar Istezar, and their comrades including Waris Ali, Ahmed Din and Sheikh Waqas Mahmood.
The GHQ attack was unprecedented in its audacity. Militants disguised and determined penetrated the most secure military installation in the country, taking hostages and challenging the state itself. The Army’s response was swift and decisive. SSG operators, the nation’s elite, went in knowing the risks — room-to-room combat against desperate, well-armed terrorists with hostages in the balance.
Brigadier Anwar Ul Haq and Lieutenant Colonel Waseem Amir embodied the leadership ethos of the Pakistan Army: officers do not send men where they will not go themselves. They were at the forefront of the operation, directing and inspiring, sharing every danger with their troops.
The operation succeeded. The hostages were freed, the terrorists neutralised, and the GHQ stood unbowed. But victory came at a cost written in the blood of brave men. Seventeen years later, the martyrs of OP Janbaz remain a symbol of the Army’s unbreakable spirit — proof that no attack, however daring, can shake the resolve of Pakistan’s armed forces.
Today we remember them all — the brigadier, the lieutenant colonel, the commandos and the soldiers. Their names may not all be household words, but their sacrifice guards every household in the land. Pakistan honours the martyrs of the GHQ attack of 2009, forever.
To the families of the fallen — who sent their sons, husbands and fathers off to duty that morning never imagining the day that awaited — the nation owes a debt that can never be repaid. Seventeen years on, we say to them: your loved ones did not die in vain. They died defending the honour of the institution they served and the country they loved. Pakistan remembers, Pakistan honours, Pakistan will never forget the martyrs of OP Janbaz.
