Raja Muhammad Sarwar
Raja Muhammad Sarwar , better known as Muhammad Sarwar Bhatti, was a Pakistani military officer who was cited as the first recipient of Pakistan's highest military award, Nishan-e-Haider, for his gallantry and actions of valor during the First Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–48.
Biography
Raja Muhammad Sarwar was born on 10 November 1910 to a Punjabi Muslim BhattiRajput family in a small village, Singhori, that was located in the vicinity of the Gujar Khan Tehsil, Rawalpindi District, Punjab, British India in British Indian Empire. He was a military brat whose father, Raja Muhammad Hayat Khan, was an enlist in the British Indian Army, retiring at the rank of Havildar.He was educated in government-run schools in Rawalpindi District and secured his matriculation from a local school in Faisalabad in 1928. After graduation, he followed his father, Havildar Muhammad Hyatt, path and enlisted in the British Indian Army in 1929 as a Sepoy, where he was posted with the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Baloch Regiment of the Baloch Regiment. From 1929 until 1939, he worked hard towards reaching one of the highest enlisted ranks and was eventually promoted to Naib Subedar and posted in supply and ammunition with the Pakistan Army Service Corps in 1939.
In 1939, Sarwar was invited to attend the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun and completed his military training before gaining a commission in the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army in 1943. In 1944, 2nd-Lt. Sarwar briefly served in Burma with distinction during military operations there that earned him the Burma Star from the British administrations in Delhi in India.
In 1944, 2nd-Lt. Sarwar was posted to an administrative position in the Punjab Regiment — he was promoted to Lieutenant in 1945–46. In the British Indian Army personnel accounts, Sarwar was known to be "a serious man with a no nonsense attitude and was deeply religious who would practice his religion, Islam, devotedly and offered five prayers everyday... "
Indo-Pakistani war of 1947-1948
In 1946–47, Lt. Sarwar was promoted to army captain and decided to attend the signal course before he was recommissioned in the Pakistan Army Corps of Signals in 1947, and directed towards attending the Military College of Signals. After hearing the news of the First Kashmir War between India and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir, Sarwar immediately wanted to volunteer. He refrained due to his officers wanting him to complete his studies in military signals, which he completed after a year. In 1948, Captain Sarwar took command of the 2nd Battalion of the Punjab Regiment of the Pakistan Army and was deployed on the frontline.A march towards Uri town of Jammu and Kashmir was commenced under Sarwar, and he led an attack on the organized Indian Army's troops, forcing them to retreat from Gilgit-Baltistan to Ladakh on 26 July 1948. Sarwar's company followed the Indian Army's troops to the Uri region where his unit faced off the strongly fortified enemy position located in that sector. His company was only 50 yards away from the fortified enemy position as the Indian Army's soldiers begin mortar shelling his positions, and received instructions on leading the attack on the left side of the bunker where the shelling was taking place. Moving towards the new position, his passage was blocked due to barbed wire and he decided to advance to cut the wire, taking six men with him. During the firefight, Sarwar used a bolt cutter to cut the wire, and took a bullet from machine gun fire.
On 27 July 1948, Captain Sarwar was killed while clearing the passage. He was 37 years old at the time.