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"I am thankful to Allah that he gave me the courage to serve my nation," Khalil told IOL. |
LAHORE — Just last week, Mahar Mohammad Khalil was scarcely known by his own neighbors.
Now he is a celebrated national hero.
Khalil saved the lives of a visiting Sri Lankan cricket team from armed assailants who ambushed them on Tuesday, March 3, near Colonel Qaddafi Stadium in the northeastern city of Lahore.
Since then he has been showered with praises and rewards from everyone.
"I am thankful to Allah that he gave me the courage to serve my nation," a humbled Khalil told IslamOnline.net.
"When I remember that scene I can’t believe that I have done that all."
Khalil was behind the wheel when 12 gunmen, firing automatic weapons, grenades and a rocket launcher, ambushed the convoy.
"I could not understand, what was happening when I heard the firing sound. I thought the people were welcoming the Sri Lankan players with fireworks," he recalls.
"But later, I realized what’s going on when a terrorist came in front of the bus and threw a hand grenade under it."
Miraculously the grenade did not explode.
Khalil immediately pressed the accelerator evading, by inches, a rocket fired by another attacker.
"It was because of one of the players sitting next to me who shouted, don’t stop, go go go," he notes.
"If I had not move the bus on his screams, the rocket would have hit the bus, and could have been catastrophic."
National Hero
Khalil can not quite figure out how he kept a cool head and drove his bus to the stadium from where the visiting team was airlifted to safety by Pakistani air force.
"I had nothing in my mind when I was rushing towards the stadium that I had to save the lives of our guests," said the father of three children.
"It would have been a big blot on our honor if any one of them was killed."
None of the Sri Lankan plays was killed in the unprecedented attack on a cricket team, but several were slightly wounded.
Khalil met later with the Sri Lankan team who wanted to thank him in person for keeping his composure in the face of adversity and saving their lives.
"You have saved us. We don’t have words to say thank you," reads a letter written by the players and presented to Khalil.
"Our families and we will always remain thankful to you. You risked your life for us."
Khalil has also hit stardom in the Asian Muslim country.
He was accorded a rousing welcome as soon as he reached the crime scene where thousands of citizens thronged to pay homage to the deceased security personnel.
"He is our Hero. We salute him," Mohammad Adnan, a local businessman in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, told IOL.
"He has saved the honor of Pakistan."
He gave Khalil a cash reward of $2500.
"People like Khalil are pride of any nation," said an emotional Adnan.
"We should learn to respect our living heroes. You do not have to be a king or saint
to become a hero."
Shahbaz Sharif, who recently lost his job as Punjab chief minister after the supreme court banned him and his brother former premier Nawaz Sharif from holding public office, visited Khalil in his home and gave him another 2500-dollar reward.
But a humble Khalil insists he has not done that much.
"I don’t think that I have done anything extraordinary.
"This is just because of the grace of Allah who has given me this honor to serve my country."
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