In a cruel twist of fate, the two brave soldiers who lost their lives on Tuesday when terrorists triggered a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) along the India-Pakistan border in the Akhnoor Sector of Jammu, were meant to be celebrating the happiest day of their lives just days later in April when their weddings were fixed.
In a emotional and solemn wreath-laying ceremony, the General Officer Commanding, White Knight Corps of the Indian Army, Lt. General Navin Sachdeva, on Wednesday paid heartfelt homage to the indomitable spirit of Captain Karamjit Singh Bakshi and Naik Mukesh Singh Manhas at the Air Force Station in Jammu. These courageous warriors made the supreme sacrifice on 11 February, upholding the highest traditions of the Indian Army.
What was supposed to be a time of love, laughter, and new beginnings has been cruelly replaced by grief and unbearable loss. Their families, once busy with wedding preparations, were now finding themselves preparing for last rites, their homes echoing with sorrow instead of wedding songs.
Captain Bakshi, who belonged to Ranchi in Jharkhand, was engaged to a lady Army doctor whose parents reside in the Sainik Colony here. Their wedding was fixed for 18 April.
The 30 years old Naik Mukesh, whose parents live in Utterbehani near here, was to get married to a girl in the border village of Satrian in Ranbirsinghpura. Mukesh had come home in January for the engagement ceremony and resumed his duty on 28 January.
A day before the cruel incident, he had talked on phone to his sister about the wedding arrangements, the soldier’s father said.
The two soldiers were killed in the IED blast by Pakistani terrorists in the afternoon when they were patrolling along the barbed-wire fence between the two countries.
A day earlier, an Army soldier was injured in a sniper attack from across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nowshera Sector of Rajouri district last evening. The Indian Army has lodged a strong protest with the Pakistan Army against such activities from the occupied area of J&K.
The Army, BSF and J&K Police have been put on high alert after these incidents. Surveillance has been increased following intelligence reports of movement of terrorists along the LOC and international border under the supervision of Pakistani agencies.