My dad, Capt Sajjad Gul, is a Shaheed. And not just me, but the whole nation is proud of him. He did not think of flying as a job; it was his passion and the immense love he had for his job remained unmatched. Besides being a great pilot, he was a humble man, a kind soul who put others before himself, felt other people’s problems, and helped them in a way that wouldn’t make them feel any less equal than others.

I am not writing this because he’s my father, but because the number of people he helped is uncountable, and we came to know about his generosity when people we did not even know came and told us about it: be it helping people arrange their daughters’ marriages to sending monthly supplies and money to families of retired crew loaders and crew in Skardu. He even helped a random family pay for their child’s treatment just because they were short of money and he was coincidently standing next to them at the counter.

I remember asking him why he wasn’t staying home and flying two days before Eid. He replied: “Don’t you think if you get to spend Eid with your family, others should get this privilege too? I am going to do that so these people can go back home.”

He always loved going to Madina and considered it a second home. A man called us from Madina, saying, “There was a man who helped everyone at Roza-i-Rasool and I would often see him helping the elderly and distributing food to people. Today, when I watched the news, I got to know who it was: none other than our Capt Sajjad Gul.”

All his friends and crew members who visited us to pay their condolences told us how he used to treat everyone around him as a child and would call everyone beta, beti or bachay. He had immense respect for his colleagues and would make everyone laugh and always say, “Kuch bhi ghalat ho aap mujhay bataein, Sajjad Gul hazir hai (Come to me if something ever goes wrong, Sajjad Gul is there for you).”

His family was his topmost priority. He was, is, and will remain a wonderful, compassionate and loving father. He wasn’t just our father, but a friend and mentor who instilled all his skills, abilities and confidence into his children. He would always buck us up to have the confidence to express ourselves and stand up for not only our rights, but also those of people around us. He would always say: “Hamesha apna kaam sachay dil aur honesty say karo warna mat karo!”

Teaching us to give in order to get from Allah, he used to say: “If I don’t give to people, how would Allah give me?”

Zoya Sajjad is studying to be a dentist.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2020