A blood donation camp was organized on Tuesday by the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Justice Front (JKPJF) at Govt. Medical College in Baramulla in the memory of Shaheed Mohd Maqbool Sherwani – The Lion of Baramulla.

Amongst the donors were the JKPJF District Presidents of Srinagar, Budgam, Baramulla and Bandipora as well as many other party workers.

The Chairman of JKPJF Agha Syed Abbas Rizvi stressed that the aim of organizing this camp was to highlight the significance of the sacrifice made by Mohd Maqbool Sherwani for the cause of the nation.

He said the story of his bravery, wittiness and subsequent martyrdom of Maqbool Sherwani in 1947 during the Tribal raid orchestrated by the Pakistani Army needs to be propagated throughout India.

Sherwani, then a 19-year-old, has been credited with single-handedly stalling the advance of the tribal invaders to Srinagar-Budgam airport.

He managed the feat by misinforming the invaders that the Indian Army was camping outside Baramulla and that a move towards Srinagar would be their
undoing.

The enemy froze in its tracks before the Indian reinforcement had reached Srinagar.

Many say that the outcome of the war would have been different had invaders reached Srinagar before the Indian Army.

Maqbool Sherwani had to pay with his life after his bluff was caught.

He was crucified, as his body was nailed on a wooden plank and left at the main square of Baramulla.

He had refused to say, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ till the very end; which could have saved his life.

The Chairman of JKPJF pitched for recognizing the unsung heroes of Jammu Kashmir like Maqbool Sherwani and many others.

He urged that art forms such as cinema and theater should be used to popularize their sacrifices which can be motivating for the present day young generation.