Remembering Mama Risha... the legend of armed struggle

Mama Risha was PUK's prominent member of the Peshmerga, in the Kurdistan Region during the Kurdish prolonged warfare with the former dictatorship Iraqi Baath regime in the struggle for self-rule in the Kurdistan Region. 

He was known as a courageous hero among his Pesmerga friends for his heroic roles in the armed struggle against the enemy. His real name was Najmadin Shukir Rauf and was born in 1955 in Talaban village of Chamchamal district in the Garmian region. He was called Mama Risha which means Uncle Beard in English as he had a long black beard. 

In 1979, the martyr continued his struggle in the ranks of the Peshmerga forces in the fourth sector in the Bazian region. After that, he became the commander of the 4 Jabari Force, where the martyr sowed terror and panic among the men of the Baath regime. He was dubbed the Eagle of Garmian region. 

The enemy forces were so afraid of him that they began prosecuting his family and torturing them to get a confession out of them in order to find Mama Risha. 

In 1981 the regime men took Mama Risha's father and after a while of being missing, he was found dead and his brother was also martyred that same year. Mama Risha is one of the courageous Peshmergas who had effective and prominent roles in the epics and heroism and activities that the Peshmerga has written in history. 

He participated in many major conflicts with the Baath regime such as the epics of Hamak, Zhallay Darband, Zhallay Khwelen, Betwata, Qara Hassan, Jabarim Sheikh Bzeni, Kakibakai plane ambushes, and many more in Kirkuk in particiular, Sulaymaniyah and Erbil, and many more places. He did not graduate from college nor did he have stars and crowns on his shoulders, he was only the voice of an oppressed nation. 

His nation's just cause and his beliefs in freedom made him give lessons to thousands of top officers and the number one leaders of the fallen Baath Regime. He married Kichan Hussein on March 17, 1983. He changed his wife's name to Nishtiman, the Kurdish word for homeland, due to his patriotic soul and love for his country. 

The martyr, Mama Risha, within a short period of time, emerged from among the hundreds of Peshmerga forces and was the safety valve for most of the struggles for freedom, as he became famous like the speed of lightning and was a deep concern for the enemy. He achieved victories one after the other in most areas of Kirkuk.

Mamah Risha was martyred on Jan 24, 1985, along with two of his peshmerga comrades in the village of Hassan Awa. Mama Risha is present in the hearts and consciences of all the oppressed, the persecuted, the poor, and the revolutionaries and honorable fighters fighting for justice where ever they are. 



PUKmedia