Jabron Hashmi was born in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, just under an hour from the Afghan border. Last Saturday, after a journey that had taken him from Peshawar to Birmingham, and from civilian life to the military, he died on the other side of the border in Sangin, southern Afghanistan, the first British Muslim soldier to be killed since the "war on terror" began five years ago.
The family of L/Cpl Hashmi, killed alongside Corporal Peter Thorpe in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, said the 24-year-old had joined the army because he wanted to "build bridges" between Britain and the Islamic world.
L/Cpl Hashmi's older brother Zeeshan, a former member of the Intelligence Corps, said: "Jabron was a committed soldier and a committed Muslim. He was fiercely proud of his Islamic background and he was equally proud of being British.
The article continues at length; no one writes an obituary like the Brits. Remember men like Cpl. Hashmi are out there. |
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