Syed Mazhar Ali Shah
PESHAWAR: While sitting alone in my room, I felt someone placed their arms around my neck. He was my son and I saw that he was wearing a very smart jersey, I stared at him without blinking an eye. I smelled the fragrance of millions of flowers and I started to taste the sweet memories that will never be forgotten. It was a gift that Osama has sent him just 3 days before of his martyrdom. It turned into a token of remembrance forever. Whenever I see wildaan in this jersey I see in him the beautiful face of Osama saying loudly “MAZHAAAR” and then slowly “kia hoo raha hain”. One reason for choosing someone admirable as an ideal to model yourself after him, is that their life set an example for you. He did not shared his DNA with me but he shared his spirit and his beautiful soul with me forever. The greatest gift he gave me, he believed in me. He loved to walk at river side and gradually that became a regular hobby of ours and we used to exchange views on so many things and even sharing personal feelings, cheering and suffering too.
One evening of mid-September 2016 both of us were sitting on the rock, near the river, quite alone. He began throwing the pebbles in to the flowing river one after another. Suddenly he said, “Let’s construct a park over here”, without giving any proper thought to its feasibility and that was his working style. I never forget the dusk of the river of that very evening. He was a man of initiatives without much caring about the codal formalities. After the idea of park he picked another idea of pre coaching academy for the aspirants of medical, engineering, cadet and of competitive examinations. Being the hard task master he very punctually, personally supervised till his last breath. His another excellent initiative was the retrofitting/repairing of the washrooms of DHQ hospital out of his own pocket. Which shows his sympathy with the common people of Chitral. He would come up with all challenges in his own style and in most productive way.
He was always affectionate, soft hearted and gracious not only to me but to everybody. He was very much down to earth and was care free about the formalities of protocols etc. He was so much obsessed with Chitral that he never wanted his close staff to leave the offices before concluding the detailed discussions on planning for the days to come and mostly those meetings used to end by late night. Time we spent together is unforgettable. Life did not happen to him but it happened for him. His soul was not contained within the limits of his body, his body was contained within the limitlessness of his soul. He was very accomplished, a man of great love, honor and life. He was always energetic, motivational and uplifting.
There was always something at the back of his mind and I always found him in hurry while achieving the targets he assigned for the team and majestically he achieved all, but while rushing to the heaven he chose the path alone leaving us all orphan.
The evening of 7 December 2016 became awful, and turned my life upside down, when sitting in a meeting in the capital city waiting for his arrival as promised by him, we got the news of my life, PK-661 went down with our beloved friend Osama Ahmed Warraich. Death is the destination we all share. No one has escaped it. Because death is very likely the single best invention of life. He was a national treasure and God has stolen a great son of Pakistan. But his love respect remain forever as spiritual gift planted by the person into our hearts. May his departed soul rest in eternal peace.
Writter is Assistant Commissioner Battagram
