Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR: Ashok Chakra, one of the highest military honours and peace time equivalent of Param Vir Chakra, is being conferred on two Commanding Officers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who fought valiantly in two fierce gunbattles with foreign terrorists in Kashmir valley.
While as Pramod Kumar, CO of CRPF’s 49th battalion got killed in an encounter on the Independence Day on August 15, 2016, at Nowhatta in downtown Srinagar, CO of 45th battalion Chetan Kumar Cheetah, had a miraculous escape after receiving nine gunshots on his body and getting critically injured in an encounter at Hajan village of Bandipore district on February 14, 2017.
Highly placed authoritative sources disclosed to STATE TIMES that recommendation of Ashok Chakra, posthumously for Pramod Kumar, had been cleared up to the ultimate stage even as the recommendation for Chetan Cheetah was at its initial stage. During their visit to some paramilitary formation in the Valley on Tuesday, Director General of CRPF Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar and Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Dr Shesh Paul Vaid, asked their subordinate officials to forward recommendation for Cheetah’s Ashok Chakra to Union Ministry of Home Affairs at an earliest.
After necessary clearance at different levels, the prestigious awards for the two Cos and Presidents Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG) for some other CRPF personnel would be announced by the Centre on the next Independence Day on August 15, 2017.
Bhatnagar and Vaid visited headquarters of CRPF’s 45th battalion at Sumbal where the paramilitary force on Monday morning foiled a major fidayeen attack, killing all the four militants without any collateral damage. Even as the slain militants are yet to be identified, authorities believe them as cadre of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba drawn from Multan area of Punjab in Pakistan. Huge quantities of arms and ammunition, besides a number of bottles filled with petrol, have been seized from their possession.
This is after a long time that as many as four foreign fidayeen terrorists have been killed in an encounter and the security forces or civilians have not suffered any damage. According to sources, the two visiting chiefs decided to recommend CO of 45th battalion, Iqbal Ahmad, and sentries of the encampment for PPMG. Sources said that recommendation of Ashok Chakra for Iqbal Ahmad’s predecessor, Chetan Cheetah, was being processed for onward submission to MHA.
Then heading 45th battalion, Cheetah had demonstrated extraordinary bravery in an encounter with two foreign terrorists in Hajan, Bandipore, on February 14 this year. He survived after receiving 9 bullets on his body and killing LeT commander Abu Musaib. However, one of the two holed up militants managed to escape. Cheetah was airlifted to AIIMS in New Delhi where he recovered. He is currently recovering at his home.
Then CO of CRPF 49th battalion, Pramod Kumar could not be saved after he got critically injured in the fierce encounter at Nowhatta, near Jamia Masjid of Srinagar, on August 15, 2016. He would be awarded posthumously on the same day in New Delhi this year. According to sources, authorities have also recommended CO of CRPF 28thbattalion, Rajiv Choudhary, and the second-in-command of the same battalion, Rajesh Kumar, besides a doctor, for PPMG. Two foreign terrorists of LeT and the Commanding Officer had died on the day of the encounter while as Constable Mohammad Rauf of J&K Police, who had got critically injured, breathed his last a month later.
From a vintage position in Nowhatta Chowk, the heavily armed militants also directed gunfire on the bulletproof vehicle of then IGP Kashmir Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gilani. However he and others in his escort had a narrow escape.
