ISLAMABAD: Captain Karnal Sher Khan is honored as one of Pakistan's top military heroes, renowned for his bravery during the 1999 Kargil War with India. He was martyred while storming a mountain post seized by Indian troops from his men. He drove them out, then pushed further into enemy lines in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir before he was martyred.
Sher Khan was born January 1, 1970, in Nawan Kallay, a village in Swabi district, according to APP. His grandfather had fought in the 1948 Kashmir war and named the boy “Karnal,” the Pashto word for "colonel.
The name remained his legal identity.
Sher Khan entered the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in 1992 and was commissioned into the 27th Sindh Regiment in 1994. Fighting soon pulled him into a different unit. He was attached to the 12th Northern Light Infantry as tensions rose in Kargil, along the Line of Control with India in 1999, according to APP.
His unit held five posts near Tiger Hill, at 17,000 feet in the Gultari sector, overlooking Indian supply routes below. The men fortified their positions despite sub-zero temperatures and constant artillery fire. In the weeks before the final battle, Sher Khan led patrols against Indian positions.
On July 5, 1999, Indian forces, described by APP as roughly two battalions backed by artillery, broke through and seized part of one post. Sher Khan gathered the survivors of his detachment and led the charge to retake it.
His men forced the Indian troops out, but he did not stop there. He pushed the assault into the enemy's own position, where he was martyred in close combat. Sher Khan was 29.
The opposing Indian sector commander, identified as Brig M.P.S. Bajwa, left a note beside Sher Khan's body. The note praised his conduct and recommended that Pakistan honor him, according to APP.
'Lion of Kargil'
Pakistanis remember Sher Khan today as the "Lion of Kargil."
His remains arrived in Swabi on July 18, 1999, and he was buried with full military honors. Pakistan's government conferred the Nishan-e-Haider on him posthumously.
His native village was renamed Karnal Sher Khan Kallay. A mausoleum built over his grave in Swabi still receives wreaths from senior officers, including the Inspector General of the Frontier Corps, on behalf of Pakistan's army chief.
The government also built the Karnal Sher Khan Cadet College on the Swabi-Mardan Road at Ismaila. Radio Pakistan reported that his actions remain part of the curriculum at the Pakistan Military Academy.
Pakistan marks Defense Day on Sept 6 each year when martyrs like Sher Khan are remembered and honored.
This year, too, federal ministers and army officials cited his counterattack in remarks marking the occasion. Radio Pakistan reported that the Frontier Corps and army units joined residents of Swabi at his mausoleum, part of a tribute held there every year on the day.