Heroes are not born, but rather, are forged by their circumstances.
Lecturer Syed Hamid Husain, an assistant professor of chemistry at the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda was one such individual who rose over, above and beyond the call of his duty.
The soft spoken UK returned PhD student had turned down a lucrative career in Europe to settle in his native Pakistan.
The 34 your old lecturer who had just celebrated the first birthday of his second child, was taking his early morning class when he heard gunshots as blood thirsty terrorists, taking cover of the early morning thick fog scaled the walls of the varsity. The well armed and highly trained gunmen were equipped with sophisticated weapons and explosives and quickly overwhelmed the varsity’s security force.
They then commenced firing indiscriminately at every one they saw, but specially the students who were trying so desperately to escape. An eyewitness described the scene in the following words, “the students were falling in the courtyard like (sun) flowers being cut in a field.”
Syed Hamid Hussain refused to give in to the terror and blind panic around him. The professor put down his pen and quietly took out his licensed 9mm pistol, and ordered his students to stay inside… as he went to face certain death.
The teacher who was fondly known as the”protector” by his students for his propensity to allow them to share their problems with him.
He would always help the students and he was the one who knew all their secrets because they would share all their problems with him,” 22-year-old geology student Waqar Ali said.
Remember Kiddo I have a pistol
Mohammad Shazeb, a 24-year-old computer science student, told the media that Husain was fond of gardening and used to joke with the students that they should learn gardening for when they are unemployed.
“He had a 9mm pistol and used to tell us stories about his hunting trips,” Shazeb said.
Husain also never missed a game of cricket with the students, he said, adding: “When someone would go to bowl to him, he would joke: ‘Remember kiddo, I have a pistol'”.
Geology student Zahoor Ahmed said his chemistry lecturer had warned him not to leave the building after the first shots were fired.
“He was holding a pistol in his hand,” he said. “Then I saw a bullet hit him. I saw two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back wall.”
Another student told television reporters he was in class when he heard gunshots.
“We saw three terrorists shouting slogans and rushing towards the stairs of our department,” he said as he described seeing the chemistry professor holding a pistol and firing at the attackers.
“Then we saw him fall down and as the terrorists entered the (registrar) office we ran away,” said the student.
Out of a total of four terrorists, he faced three… all alone.
His colleagues described the quiet, unassuming young man as a gentleman in life and a shaheed (myrter) in death.
He did not brandish his weapon in class in the spirit of braggadocio, as a lot of the chattering classes had feared when teachers in northwest Pakistan were given permission to carry firearms in the classroom after the Peshawar school carnage of December 2014. (in which Taliban terrorists killed over 150 people, mostly young children.)
Read: Lecturer Hamid Husain, defies gunmen in university attack
Indeed, after the APS mass slaughter, the state had expressed its absolute inability to protect each and every educational institution in KPK and had therefore given teachers the right to carry their licensed firearms to the class rooms to protect their charges. Weapons training was also provided, free of cost.
This pragmatic decision had been subjected to extreme opprobrium by the anti gun lobby who insisted that the mere presence of fire arms would turn teachers like the heroic professor above, into deranged lunatics out for mass murder.
That this policy paid rich dividends can be evidenced by the fact that even after the young professor was cut down in the prime of his life, the terrorists did not rush into his class room, fearing more armed resistance, but rather went off to the registrar’s office in search of ‘easier prey’ and were subsequently liquidated by the state.
Had he not offered resistance, the death toll, doubtless horrific as it is, could have been much worse.
Meanwhile the federal government’s ministry of the interior has banned “ALL” fresh licenses since June 2013, under the asinine belief that terrorists line up outside the MOI (Ministry of Interior) head office in Islamabad to acquire non prohibited bore fire-arms licenses before they commit random acts of murder and mayhem. However, very interestingly, the ban was temporarily lifted when prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was gifted a Glock pistol. The ban was lifted post haste and then promptly reapplied.
This ludicrous stance has been dutifully followed by both the Punjab and the Sindh governments.
And not only the state, but renowned educational institutions like Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Clifton, Karachi, have decided that armed guards are not conducive to a “healthy educational environment”
Meanwhile, taking maximum advantage of this ‘ostrich attitude’, the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban) terror outfit has categorically issued a statement that they ‘Will’ attack educational institutions all over Pakistan… again and again. And since the state, whose senior functionaries’ children are protected by heavily armed guards 24/7 are not at risk, they will refuse to acknowledge that the only one to stop an evil man with a gun.. Is a good man with a gun.
Meanwhile Prof. Hussain who like his illustrious namesake fourteen centuries ago, selflessly sacrificed his life to defend his defenseless charges,would doubtless be pleased that he will live on, in the lives of all those, whom he saved as well as an entire nation who bears testimony to his raw courage.
Though, we live in turbulent times, we may feel pride that we have had the privilege of living amongst the likes of shaheeds like Aitzaz Hasan and Professor Syed Hamid Husain.
Also Read: Aitzaz Hasan…. Heroes live forever
well-said… and had he indulged in practical training, he might just as well have taken a few terrorists with him. Salute to the hero.
Thank you Sir. They say a Teacher is like a parent to you. He guides you, corrects you and protects you and your future. You proved that right Sir, We, the students of Pak are porud of you.
“Real courage is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. Doing the unpopular thing because it's what you believe, and the heck with everybody.”
(Justin Cronin, The Summer Guest)
What a baller. Sad but amazing story.
It turns out he was locked with his collegues but fought his way out and went to rescue his students and out of 4, 3 terrorists rushed him together.