Naik Muhammad Mahfuz (born 25 October 1944) was a Pakistani soldier, who was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider, the highest military award of Pakistan, after he was killed in battle during the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...

Early life

Muhammad Mahfuz was born in an Awan family in Pind Malikan (now renamed Mahfuzabad in his honour) in

Rawalpindi District Rawalpindi District (Punjabi and ur, ) is a district located in the northernmost part of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Parts of the district form part of the Islamabad Rawalpindi metropolitan area. Rawalpindi city is the district capita ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

. He joined the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

on 25 October 1962 as an infantry soldier.

Nishan-e-Haider action

During the

, a company of the 15th Punjab Regiment was under command of the 43 Punjab Regiment which was deployed in the

Wagah Wagah ( ur, ) or Wagha (Shahmukhi pnb, ) is a village and union council (UC 181) located in the Wahga Zone near Lahore City District, Pakistan. The town is famous for the Wagah border ceremony and also serves as a goods transit terminal and ...

Attari Attari, also spelled Atari, is a village of Amritsar district in the Punjab state of India, 3 km from the Indo-Pakistani border at Wagah. It is situated 25 km west of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, and is the last Indian station on ...

sector along the Indian border. On 16 December 1971, Pakistan had signed instrument of surrender in Dhaka; while on 18 December 1971, during the attack on the enemy at

Pul Kanjri Pul Kanjri is a historical site situated 35 km away from Amritsar on Amritsar-Lahore road, near the villages of Dhanoa Khurd and Dhanoa Kalan on the Wagah border. It is one of the heritage sites built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, where he used ...

post, his company was pinned down by enemy fire and his machine-gun was destroyed by an Indian shell. Company of 43 Punjab Regiment under the command of Major Subha Sadiq (also killed in the same battle), came for support and fought hard until the capture of the strategic town of

. Even though Lance Naik Muhammad Mehfuz Shaheed, NH was wounded in his legs by shrapnel, he moved towards an enemy bunker, from whose gunfire had caused the death of many Pakistanis. Upon entering the bunker, he began strangling the enemy soldier who shot him, shortly after he was killed by another with a

bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...

Awards and decorations

Immediately after the war was over, the Indian Army recognized his bravery and said that if he were in the Indian Army, they would award him the ''

Vir Chakra Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋ iː ɾ a tʃ a kɾa) is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy on the battlefield and is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards a ...

''. On 23 March 1972, Mahfooz was posthumously awarded the Nishan-e-Haider, the highest gallantry award of Pakistan.

References

External links

* https://www.ispr.gov.pk/lance-naik-muhammad-mahfuz-shaheed.php {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahfuz, Muhammad 1944 births 1971 deaths Punjabi people Pakistan Army personnel People of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Pakistani military personnel killed in action Recipients of Nishan-e-Haider Deaths by bayonet Deaths by stabbing in Pakistan