ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Army is replete with soldiers who left a legacy of valor and defiance for others to follow but one of them is also named after the great Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman.
The Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Suleiman from the Special Services Group (SSG) refused to surrender in 1971 & escaped with a wounded friend on his shoulders and reached Pakistan undefeated & uncaptured.
Suleiman was moved by the suggestion of his friend Bilal Rana who had advised him to carry a grenade and never get captured by the enemy forces. He had also asked him to name his son after him (Bilal).
As the 1971 war lingered on, Bilal Rana embraced martyrdom on December 10th and a few days after it, the armed forces surrendered, however, Suleiman had made a promise with Bilal Rana to never surrender.
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Keeping his promise, the furious Suleiman barged into underground dug-in bunkers of Eastern Command in Dacca Cantonment with his loaded Kalashnikov rifle in hand and refused to accept the orders of surrender.
A day after the surrender, the phantom commando disappeared into the darkness of the night and was never found by the Indians & Mukti Bahini.
When Suleiman left Head Quarter of Eastern Command, he did not escape alone and Major PD Khan who was 2nd-in-command of 2 Commando Battalion (Suleiman’s Battalion) was in CMH Dacca with a bullet in his knee.
Suleiman went to CMH and asked PD Khan to accompany him who refused explaining that because he was badly wounded he would hamper Suleiman’s escape.
PD Khan was hit on the neck following which Suleiman lifted him as he could not refuse being in an unconscious state.
The duo escaped to Burma, neighbouring East Pakistan and PD Khan later became Lieutenant General PD Khan and commanded 30 Corp Gujranwala of Pakistan Army to be hailed as a warrior (Ghazi).
Suleiman also returned to Pakistan unscathed and fulfilled his commitment to refuse surrender.
He was Musharaf’s coursemate from 29 PMA Long Course and both of them honored the sacrifice of their martyred friend Bilal Rana and named their sons after him.
Due to the same courage, commitment and matchless show of defiance, Suleiman – alive to this day – is labeled ‘Suleiman The Magnificent’ by former president Pervez Musharraf and his peers.
