My bet is that you will not read about this in the newspapers
tomorrow because the pages will be filled with more important news about the
cleavage of actresses and the lavish wedding of corrupt politicians’ spawns.
A friend from school is a Flight Lieutenant in Indian Air
Force (IAF). He is based in Rajasthan currently, but his previous unit was in
Kashmir. He volunteered for his previous unit for an Area Domination Patrol
(ADP) at Mendhar, Kashmir, based on the input of IB, RAW and local
intelligence. They were a group of 7 on
a joint counter-insurgency operation, with men from both the Indian Army and
the IAF. Terrorists (he estimates about
200 men) were trying to infiltrate from three sides at around 4 in the morning.
The terrorists opened fire, and the unit changed positions for a counter-attack
making them believe they were greater in number. They killed five terrorists and lost one
Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), who was due for promotion. The terrorists
raised a white flag, which our men respected and ceased fire. My friend was
shot in the shoulder when he was trying to retrieve the dead body of the JCO.
The unit returned to base with their wounded and the fallen
by walking back 8 km. A little dizzy from the loss of blood, my friend had a
surgery around 5 pm that lasted for an hour. Media called during his surgery to
ask about the nature of the ops and the infiltration. They asked how many
terrorists were killed. Not a single question about how many were martyred.
The widow of the martyr talked to my friend and said, ‘Sab
aap samhal lena’ (Please take care of us). My friends doesn’t believe that she
will get a government job reserved for the family of martyrs anytime soon because the officials in
her resident state have already started demanding bribe in lakhs. Nevertheless,
he promised that he will make sure she gets her dues.
I called up my friend when I received the news, concerned
for his health. He was still cracking jokes, claiming it was normal in the line
of duty and that duty came first. And if anything happened ever to him, I should take care of his family.
What does our system give back to our heroes who risk their
lives to protect us? They have to fight the enemy from outside as well from inside.
The outside enemy is still better. At least they are known.
