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Funeral held for Pakistani- American US army officer
From Iftikhar Ali
NEW YORK - Captain Hamayun Saqib Khan, an American military officer of Pakistani origin, who was killed in Iraq, was laid to rest with full military honours on Tuesday.
His funeral ceremony at Arlington National Cemetary in Washington was attended by Mohammad Sadiq, Deputy Chief of the Pakistan Embassy in the capital city, American military officers and his friends and relatives, according to an embassy press release.
Captain Hamayun Saqib Khan, 27, who served in the US army as an ordnance officer, was the senior-most Pakistani-American US army officer to die in Iraq.
His colleagues and superiors remembered him for his courage, honesty, sense of humour and grace under pressure in the field. Captain Khan’s colleagues spoke of his exemplary service and praised him for the leadership he provided to his troops.
A Muslim priest, who led the Nimaz-e-Janaza after the military honours, specifically highlighted the ethnically diverse group that had come to pay its respects to Captain Khan. He was one of the growing number of Pakistani Americans in the US army.
The Washington Post carried a detailed story on Capt. Hamayun Saqib Khan, although the newspaper mistakenly described him as a native of the United Arab Emirates where he was born.
In Iraq, he was stationed in Baquba, Iraq, a base which was under almost constant bombardment. His mother, Ghazala Khan, was quoted as saying, ‘Whenever I talked to him, I started to cry. He would tell me ‘Don’t worry. I’m safe.’ ‘
The last time she spoke to him was on Mother’s Day, May 9. ‘On Tuesday, under the hot midday sun, she and her husband, Khizr M. Khan, 53, watched as their middle son was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery’, the newspaper said, adding:
Capt Hamayun Khan’s was the 66th casualty of the Iraq war to be buried on the cemetery’s lush, manicured hills. His flag-draped wood coffin was placed at the end of a row of marble headstones.
On June 8, Capt. Khan died in a suicide car bombing at the main gates of his base. Khan, an ordnance officer with the Germany-based 201st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, had watched as several of his soldiers prepared to do a routine vehicle inspection. His unit was charged with the day-to-day security and maintenance of the camp.
When an orange-coloured taxi drove toward them, Khan ordered his soldiers to ‘hit the dirt,’ said his father, who received details of his son’s death from his commanding officer.
Capt. Khan walked toward the car, motioning for it to stop, his father said. A makeshift bomb inside it exploded, killing him and two Iraqi civilians in addition to the two suicide bombers. Ten soldiers and six Iraqi citizens were also wounded, the Army said.
Capt. Khan’s father said he is proud of his son’s courage, but is devastated by the loss.
‘Where did his strength come from to face such a danger instead of hiding behind a pole or booth or something?’ his father said. ‘Normally we would try to hide. Had he done that, there would be no problem at all. It may have not been fatal.’
During his three months in Iraq, Capt. Khan helped put Iraqi civilians to work for $5 an hour patrolling the streets of Baquba under the US Army, his father said.
The programme, dubbed the United States-Iraq Sponsorship Programme, was intended to help combat high unemployment and provide the local population with security and peace, his father said.
‘He was always a peacemaker,’ Khizr Khan said, ‘always seeing an opportunity to give. He always said to the Iraqis, ‘We’re here not to hurt you but to help you.’ ‘
Capt. Khan had hoped one day to go to the University of Virginia law school, his father said. He wanted to be a military lawyer and joined up four years ago in part to pay for law school. His stint was up last month, but because of the Army’s efforts to stem its manpower losses, he was assigned to Iraq indefinitely.
Lt. Col. Kenneth Kerr, an Army chaplain, read a letter written by Capt. Khan’s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Dan Mitchell.
‘He died selflessly and courageously, tackling the enemy head on,’ Mitchell wrote. ‘We will not forget him and the noble ideas he stood for.’
Capt. Khan was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Funeral held for Pakistani- American US army officer
From Iftikhar Ali
NEW YORK - Captain Hamayun Saqib Khan, an American military officer of Pakistani origin, who was killed in Iraq, was laid to rest with full military honours on Tuesday.
His funeral ceremony at Arlington National Cemetary in Washington was attended by Mohammad Sadiq, Deputy Chief of the Pakistan Embassy in the capital city, American military officers and his friends and relatives, according to an embassy press release.
Captain Hamayun Saqib Khan, 27, who served in the US army as an ordnance officer, was the senior-most Pakistani-American US army officer to die in Iraq.
His colleagues and superiors remembered him for his courage, honesty, sense of humour and grace under pressure in the field. Captain Khan’s colleagues spoke of his exemplary service and praised him for the leadership he provided to his troops.
A Muslim priest, who led the Nimaz-e-Janaza after the military honours, specifically highlighted the ethnically diverse group that had come to pay its respects to Captain Khan. He was one of the growing number of Pakistani Americans in the US army.
The Washington Post carried a detailed story on Capt. Hamayun Saqib Khan, although the newspaper mistakenly described him as a native of the United Arab Emirates where he was born.
In Iraq, he was stationed in Baquba, Iraq, a base which was under almost constant bombardment. His mother, Ghazala Khan, was quoted as saying, ‘Whenever I talked to him, I started to cry. He would tell me ‘Don’t worry. I’m safe.’ ‘
The last time she spoke to him was on Mother’s Day, May 9. ‘On Tuesday, under the hot midday sun, she and her husband, Khizr M. Khan, 53, watched as their middle son was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery’, the newspaper said, adding:
Capt Hamayun Khan’s was the 66th casualty of the Iraq war to be buried on the cemetery’s lush, manicured hills. His flag-draped wood coffin was placed at the end of a row of marble headstones.
On June 8, Capt. Khan died in a suicide car bombing at the main gates of his base. Khan, an ordnance officer with the Germany-based 201st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, had watched as several of his soldiers prepared to do a routine vehicle inspection. His unit was charged with the day-to-day security and maintenance of the camp.
When an orange-coloured taxi drove toward them, Khan ordered his soldiers to ‘hit the dirt,’ said his father, who received details of his son’s death from his commanding officer.
Capt. Khan walked toward the car, motioning for it to stop, his father said. A makeshift bomb inside it exploded, killing him and two Iraqi civilians in addition to the two suicide bombers. Ten soldiers and six Iraqi citizens were also wounded, the Army said.
Capt. Khan’s father said he is proud of his son’s courage, but is devastated by the loss.
‘Where did his strength come from to face such a danger instead of hiding behind a pole or booth or something?’ his father said. ‘Normally we would try to hide. Had he done that, there would be no problem at all. It may have not been fatal.’
During his three months in Iraq, Capt. Khan helped put Iraqi civilians to work for $5 an hour patrolling the streets of Baquba under the US Army, his father said.
The programme, dubbed the United States-Iraq Sponsorship Programme, was intended to help combat high unemployment and provide the local population with security and peace, his father said.
‘He was always a peacemaker,’ Khizr Khan said, ‘always seeing an opportunity to give. He always said to the Iraqis, ‘We’re here not to hurt you but to help you.’ ‘
Capt. Khan had hoped one day to go to the University of Virginia law school, his father said. He wanted to be a military lawyer and joined up four years ago in part to pay for law school. His stint was up last month, but because of the Army’s efforts to stem its manpower losses, he was assigned to Iraq indefinitely.
Lt. Col. Kenneth Kerr, an Army chaplain, read a letter written by Capt. Khan’s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Dan Mitchell.
‘He died selflessly and courageously, tackling the enemy head on,’ Mitchell wrote. ‘We will not forget him and the noble ideas he stood for.’
Capt. Khan was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
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