Pampore encounter: Nation bids farewell to soldiers

He is both Jat and a JNU graduate, but the debates around issues like Jat reservation and the incidents in JNU were far from his mind.

Wreath laying ceremony of Captain Pawan Kumar. Notably, the young officer belonged to the Jat community of Haryana, a community that has lately been involved in large-scale violence over the demand for reservations in government jobs and educational institutions. Captain Tushar got commissioned in 2009 and struggled his way before cracking the NDA exam. “He was always eager to join the Indian army and fulfilled his dream”, a relative expressed.

“I am proud of the martyrdom of my son”. “In this chaos there has to be a moment of calm for this officer’s funeral”, said an official from the army.

“The officer was an inspiring leader who inspite of being injured earlier in an anti-terrorist operation, went on to volunteer for more operations”.

A wreath-laying ceremony was organised in Udhampur to accord a ceremonial farewell to Captain Tushar Mahajan, Colonel S.D. Goswami, spokesman of the army’s Udhampur-headquartered Northern Command, told IANS.

The terrorists are holed up inside the multi-storeyed government complex of Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) on the Srinagar Jammu National Highway in Pampore and operations are in full swing to neutralise them.

Lance Naik Om Prakash of Shimla had served in the army for 13 years.. A gun salute was given to the martyr by the Army at Badhana village, even as his pyre was lit by his father Rajbir Singh, a school teacher.

“He was a very courageous and intrepid officer with barely three years of service but maturity beyond his years”, he said. I gave him to the Army, and I am proud of that. He had been earlier awarded with the “Asadharan Suraksha Seva Praman Patra” by the Prime Minister of India on 15 Aug 2013 for gallantry in counter terrorist operations. Former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minster Nirmal Singh was also among those who paid their tributes.

Speaking about Capt Pawan Kumar he said, “He had voluntarily taken upon himself to lead his men into this most hard phase of the operation”.