Son of Afghan POW Adjudged ‘Best Foreign Cadet’

DEHRADUN: Hailing from Oruzgan in Afghanistan, the son of Colonel Sher Mohammad who was kept as a prisoner of war (POW) in Pakistan for months during an Afghanistan-Pakistan skirmish in 1989, Sherzad Sarbaz, received a unique distinction of being adjudged the ‘best foreign cadet’ among 77 cadets from friendly foreign countries who graduated from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) on Saturday.

Sarbaz, who aspires to walk in his father’s footsteps, was awarded the silver medal for the gentleman cadet (GC) standing first in the order of merit from foreign countries. The 23-year-old said he was greatly inspired by his father’s bravery and always aspired to join the army. His five siblings, three brothers and two sisters, are working in the field of medicine.

“I chose to follow the path of my father and serve the nation. The stories of his bravery still give me goosebumps. He was made to stand in the snow for hours and use to be without food for a long time. He was tortured both physically and mentally but he remained calm and decided to retain his job even after witnessing so much suffering,” said Sarbaz, who is eager to serve his country.
Sarbaz told TOI that his father lost job during the Taliban regime and the family suffered financial crisis. He again joined Afghan army in 2001 after Hamid Karzai took over.
Colonel Sher Mohammad, who is now 56, still works with Afghan army will be retiring this year and Sarbaz wanted to give his father a farewell gift by getting inducted in the army himself.
Incidentally, the newly-inducted officer in the Afghan army worked part-time in a hotel in Afghanistan where he says he learnt to speak fluent Hindi from his Indian colleagues. “That small stint helped me a lot in clearing the NDA and also in getting into the IMA. In fact, one of the members of the interview panel at NDA said that I speak better Hindi than most locals,” he added.
In the IMA passing out parade, held in Dehradun on Saturday, 43 other cadets from Afghanistan received their diplomas. Fifteen cadets from Bhutan, nine from Tajikistan, two from Papua New Guinea and one each from Fiji, Lesotho, Maldives and Tonga also received diploma certificates from IMA.

Source:ToI

Image Courtesy: ToI