ESCAPE FROM PAKISTAN

 Commodore Shea’s name came to the public domain in 2021  by way of a book ‘Escape from Pakistan’ 

penned down by his daughter Debora Ann Shea. The book is about a daring escape of a diplomat and his family from Karachi in 1965. A few months before the Indo–Pak war of 1965, Jack was posted to Karachi, Pakistan as Naval Attaché in the Indian High Commission. The First Secretary at the High Commission, was an I P S. officer and his role in sourcing vital military information during the 1965 Indo-Pak war brought him dangerously close to being booked for espionage. The Indian authorities moved quickly to get him and his family out. The man assigned to head the mission: Jack Shea. The Naval officer took on a task at which anyone else would probably have failed. Charting out a route through precarious desert terrain, he sets the diplomat on course for a safe escape. His meticulous planning ensured a safe passage for the family by a cargo ship. Enraged, the ISI sets out to identify the man behind the daring escape. After months of frustrating investigation, they finally had their man: Captain Jack Shea. Revenge was wreaked in the most brutal manner. On a frosty January night, in the middle of a party inside the Indian Deputy High Commissioner’s bungalow the officer was cornered and assaulted inside a toilet by four professional hitmen.  Jack was thrown off the terrace of the bungalow and left for dead. Badly battered, Jack laid comatose in a Karachi hospital for months, with little hope of survival.  But no matter how broken-in limb, his spirit remained uncrushed. Not only did he recover but he also completed his tenure in Karachi and went on to receive the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal . He assumed command of the 11th Destroyer Squadron, played a pivotal role in the Indo–Pak war of 1971 and retired in 1976.