Lt Colonel Quazi Sajjad Zahir (Retd), a hero of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, was earlier this week honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in the Republic of India. His story is fit for the script of an epic war movie.
(Images above courtesy DD News and Wikimedia Commons)
A former soldier with the Pakistan Army in the erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) province, Col Zahir could no longer stomach the brutal atrocities committed on his fellow Bangaldeshis, and fled the country. He left for India with just Rs 20 in his pockets, the clothes on his back and whatever information he could gather on the Pakistan Army’s war plans. After his desertion, the Pakistan Army issued a death sentence against him which stands till this day.
Unspeakable Atrocities
After joining the Pakistani Army, sometime towards the end of 1969, he was commissioned into its Artillery Corps, according to this report by The Print. By March…