Saif Ali Janjua

Naik Saif Ali Janjua (; 23 April 1922 — 26 October 1948) was a Pakistani military officer and posthumous war hero. A non-commissioned officer in the Azad Kashmir Regiment, he is best known for being the second recipient of Pakistan's highest military award, the Nishan-e-Haider, which he was awarded posthumously for his actions of valor and gallantry during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1948. He was also the only recipient of the Hilal-e-Kashmir award which was later declared as the equivalent of the Nishan-e-Haider.

Early life Saif Ali Janjua was born into a family of the Punjabi Janjua Rajputs to Malik Muhammad Masoom Khan on 23 April 1922 in Nakyal, Kashmir & Jammu, British India.

Military career

British Indian Army Saif Ali Janjua was enlisted into the Corps of Engineers in the British Indian Army as a Sepoy on 18 March 1941.

He inflicted heavy losses on the enemy at Bhudha Khanna and repulsed the attacks of the Indian Army's 5th and 19th Brigade at Pir Kalewa on 20 October 1948. While deployed there, he faced constant frontal and crossfire from opposition machine guns. He defended his post and imposed significant losses on the Indian Army. The enemy used every means to capture the post with the two companies' attacks and heavy shelling but he still managed to retain his post with just a handful of men.

Death During the battle, he was critically injured after being hit in the chest by artillery fire but despite this he crawled to collect ammunition from the dead and wounded soldiers to distribute it amongst the remaining surviving soldiers. He was repositioning his surviving troops to defend against another wave of enemy attacks, when he was hit with an artillery shell fatally. He ultimately died on 26 October 1948.

Awarded Posthumously On 14 March 1949, the Defence Council of Azad Jammu & Kashmir posthumously adorned him with the Hilal-e-Kashmir and on 30 November 1995 the Government of Pakistan declared his Hilal-e-Kashmir equivalent to Nishan-e-Haider.