Jawans carry the body of Captain Pawan Kumar who lost his life in a gunbattle with militants, at the 15 Corps headquarters on Sunday. PTI
Azhar Qadri,Tribune News Service,Sempora (Kashmir), February 21
Two officers and a soldier of the Army’s Special Forces Parachute Regiment were killed in an encounter with militants who had taken refuge inside a five-storeyed concrete building after ambushing a paramilitary convoy on the outskirts of the city yesterday.The officers, Captain Pawan Kumar of Jind (Haryana) and Captain Tushar Mahajan of Udhampur (J&K) and Lance Naik Om Prakash of Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) were killed during separate assaults to neutralise the militants who had taken vantage positions inside the building that houses the headquarters of Entrepreneur Development Institute (EDI). The casualties on Sunday have taken the toll in the ongoing gunfight here to six, which includes two paramilitary personnel and a civilian who had died yesterday.Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar told The Tribune that at least two to three militants were believed to be inside the building. “It is a huge building and it will take time to clear every room and every floor,” the DGP said.The encounter raged throughout the day even as the Army made several attempts to storm the building. The militants took control of the building after ambushing the convoy of CRPF vehicles on the highway connecting Srinagar and Jammu. The attack is one of the major offensives launched by militants in recent years. The affiliation of the militants still remains unclear.
Let Jind martyr have his due: Army to Jats
- The Army has appealed to the people of Haryana to extend support in giving a ‘befitting farewell’ to 23-year-old Capt Pawan Kumar, who died fighting militants in Pulwama district of J&K on Sunday. Kumar, an officer of the elite Para unit who hailed from Jind, was among two Army personnel who died in the fierce encounter with militants holed up inside a government building in Pampore town.
Six dead in 2 days
- Capt Pawan Kumar of Jind (Haryana), Capt Tushar Mahajan of Udhampur (J&K) and Lance Naik Om Prakash of Shimla died on Sunday. Two paramilitary personnel and a civilian died on Saturday.
..AND IN J&K, JAT OFFICER FROM JIND DIES FIGHTING TERROR
SRINAGAR: Captain Pawan Kumar who died fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday was a Jat from Haryana and associated with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), focal points of two different stirs shaking the country.
For the 23-year-old soldier enlisted with the army’s 10 Para (Special Forces) all that mattered was love for the country and not calls of “azadi” on campuses or the Jat demand for reservation in jobs and colleges.
“Kisiko reservation chahiye to kisiko azadi bhai. Humein kuchh nahin chahiye bhai. Bas apni razai. (Some want reservation and some independence, I don’t want anything, brother, I want only my quilt),” he posted on Saturday.
He came under a hail of bullets when he was leading troops into a three-storey building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute by the Jhelum in Pampore on Saturday night. About four terrorists were hiding there.
“The officer was an inspiring leader who in spite of being wounded earlier in an anti-terrorist operation, went on to volunteer for more,” a statement from the army’s Northern Command said. But this patriot cannot travel by road in his last journey home to his village in Jind because Haryana is in a state of lockdown with thousands of Jats demanding reservation have burned property and blocked roads.
The army appealed to people of Haryana to extend full support in giving a befitting farewell to Kumar. “The mortal remains of the brave martyr will be transported by air to Jind on February 22 as the road traffic is disrupted … The last rites with full military honours is being planned by the army and state administration at his village tomorrow,” a statement said.
Born on Army Day (January 15), 1993, Kumar was the only child of Rajbir Singh, the headmaster of a senior secondary school in Jind. “I had one child. I gave him to the army. To the nation. No father can be prouder,” he said.
His JNU connection dates back to his years in the National Defence Academy (NDA), the country’s prestigious military school in Pune that is accredited to the university based in New Delhi.
The degree for the school’s foundation course is conferred by the university, which has become the epicentre of a nationwide campus stir after a JNU student leader was arrested for sedition last week.
“Some courses in the NDA are accredited to the JNU. This means every NDA graduate gets a degree from the JNU,” Srinagar-based military spokesman Colonel NN Joshi said.
The astute, short-haired, clean- shaven young officer in an army mugshot hides a fun-loving personality, with a passion for bikes and cricket.
The Captain was a top Twitter and Facebook trend on Sunday.
A photo on social media shows him sporting a long beard and a backpack slung on his shoulders. Another shows him posing with a motorbike. One of his profile pictures posted in 2015 was of his dog Tyson, a Rottweiler.
“He was a thin guy, with a Kashmiri-style beard. He was fearless and always up for action. He was keen cricketer,” a soldier said.
Capt Tushar Mahajan martyred in J&KCaptain Tushar Mahajan from Udhampur was from the elite Para unit.
