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| Militant turned soldier awarded Shaurya Chakra posthumously | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | May 18
It was an honour of pride for Gulshan Akhtar, wife of late Abdul Hamid Chara, a militant turned soldier, as Shaurya Chakra was awarded posthumously to her slain husband by the President of India, Pratibha Patil, at Rashtriyapati Bhawn on Wednesday last.
Speaking to the media after receiving the award conferred to her late husband Gulshan Akhtar said "Woh hamesha kehta tha ki mujhe izzat ki zindgi aur izzat ki maut chahiye. Humein sukoon hai ki usey dono miley. (He always wanted a life and death of dignity. We are happy that he got both)."
A surrendered militant-turned-soldier was awarded the Shaurya Chakra (posthumous) for scripting a gallant tale of valour by killing a top Lashkare-e-Tayyeba (LeT) commander in Kupwara last June, Rifleman Abdul Hamid Chara's wife received the honour from President Pratibha Patil at an investiture ceremony on Wednesday. He was from Territorial Army.
Once despised as cold-blooded killers, surrendered terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir have taken the Army by surprise by becoming one of its most potent weapons in the fight against terrorism. Composed of ikhwanis or surrendered terrorists, the 162 Infantry Battalion (Territorial Army) JAKLI is no ordinary fighting unit. When it was raised four years ago, no one could have imagined that the hordes of ex-militants drawn together under an experiment would rewrite the rules of fighting terrorism. Chara was from the same unit.
Thirty-three year old Chara was named after the legendary 1965 war hero Havaldar Abdul Hamid. In a life full of twists and turns, Al-Barq terrorists kidnapped Chara when he was barely 14. Far away from the picturesque Lolab valley where he was born, Chara soon found himself working on the Kalashnikov rifle in a terrorist training camp. Desperate to reverse his density, he escaped from the camp and surrendered to the police. He joined the TA in October 2004 after serving with the Special Operational Group (SOG) of the J&K Police.
Terrorists wanted Chara out of their way and made several abortive bids on his life. When they couldn't get him, they killed his father in 2004. Hamid's moment of reckoning came on June 12 last year when he was a part of search-and-destroy operation. Terrorists spotted Hamid and brought down fire on him. Despite serious gunshot and splinter injuries, Hamid killed one terrorist who was later identified as Mussa, a self-styled district commander of LeT, Kupwara.
Showing the way in counter-insurgency operations, the TA battalion has capitalised on its intelligence specialists and notched 288 'kills' since its inception, a respectable tally even when compared to regular infantry units. Major General S S Ahlawat (retd.), who headed the TA when battalion was raised, "The ikhwanis are a powerful intelligence tool for the Army. They can easily recognize terrorists and have first-hand knowledge about their movements."
The Army has acknowledged the valour and contribution of the ex-ikhwanis with military decorations. The awards won by the unit include one Shaurya Chakra, four Sena Medals, one Vishisht Seva Medal, 13 commendation cards from the Army chief and 23 commendation cards from the Northern Army commander. |
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