LAHORE - Written by Asghar Nadeem Syed and directed by Amir Nawaz, a theatre play titled ‘Sipahi Maqbool Hussain’ on the life, arrest and ordeal of Pakistani soldier Maqbool Hussain in an Indian prison was staged at Alhamra Arts Council on Monday.

Famous actor Rashid Mehmood played role of Sipahi (soldier) Maqbool Hussain and other cast includes Perwaiz Raza, Sarfraz Ansari, Tanveer Shah, Zohaib Ahmed, Tanveer Khalid, Zaheer Taj, Tehseen Khan, Azra Aftab and Qaisar Shehzad.

The theme of the play is sacrifice of Maqbool Hussain, who was injured in the 1965 War and arrested by the Indian Army. He spent 40 years in an Indian jail, but he was never given status of a Prisoner of War that would have given him certain rights. He had disappeared and later he was declared missing on August 20, 1965. Indian Army officers thought they could break down Sipahi Maqbool Hussain and take information from him.

To get the information about Pakistan, they tried everything in their power. They did all sorts of mental and physical torture, but they could never break Maqbool Hussain’s resilience.

They tortured Hussain as much as they could. They even cut off his tongue, taking away his power to speak forever, but the brave son of soil started writing Pakistan Zindabad on the walls of Indian jail with his blood.

Finally, he was released at Wagha Border in a prisoner exchange in 2005.

The brave man of 1965 war had already lost his senses due to the ruthless torture he faced in the Indian jail. When he was questioned about his identity, he kept replying by writing: “No. 335139”, which was his army bearing number.

On the occasion, Minister for Information and Culture Fayyaz Ul Hassan Chohan said: “When I took oath as a minister I received a message from an unknown person describing the whole story of Sipahi Maqbool Hussain. I read the message in 30 minutes and after reading it I got tears in my eyes. I called chairman of the Lahore Arts Council and advised him to arrange a theatre play on the soldier’s life.

He continued: “The Pakistan Army has a slogan to protect our motherland at any cost and we as a nation will never forget the sacrifices of our armed forces. Maqbool Hussain is the greatest example of Pakistan Army’s bravery who never uttered even a single word or disclosed a secret despite unbearable torture by the Indian Army. We cannot even imagine the pain he went through for Pakistan.”

The play will continue till Nov 10.