Abdul Qayum Sher


Brig Abdul Qayum Sher HJ was an officer of the Pakistani Army. He volunteered for the Indian Army prior to the Partition of India and fought in Burma during World War II. At partition he opted for Pakistan and achieved fame for the capture of Pandu during hostilities in 1948 with India. He commanded various battalions including his parent 11 Baluch Regiment. He attended Pakistan Command and Staff College in Quetta and in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was Brigade Commander 22 Brigade on the Lahore front. He led the counterattack force which repelled the Indian attack on Lahore, and captured Indian General N. Prasad's command headquarters and personally led the attack with his Brigadier insignia and flag on his command jeep. He was awarded the Hilal-i Jurat for outstanding bravery.
After retirement he involved himself with voluntary work with the Pakistan Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled and worked there till weeks before his death in 2013.
Abdul Qayum Sher was married to Amita Sher, a social worker, author of many books and a role model for many women in Pakistan. They had five children, three of whom survive them.

Early life and marriage

Abdul Qayum Sher was born into the prominent Shinwari tribe of Pathans and his father Khan Mohammed Azam Khan was engineer with the Indian Civil Service. At an early age Abdul Qayum Sher was sent first to Switzerland and then onto Durham in England, where he attended Durham High School and then Durham College. He participated in sports and was active in the rowing and rugby teams at school level.
At the outbreak of World War II he was on a visit to India and he enrolled into the British Indian Army attending the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun. He served with distinction in the Burma campaign during the war. After the war in 1945 he met Amita, who was teaching in Lahore, and the same year proposed and married her even though she was from a different religion.