news details |
|
|
| Led from the front for the last time | | | Col Anil Bhat VSM (RETD) | 12/7/2015 11:24:04 PM |
| In Pakistan's continuous and concerted efforts to keep Kashmir on the boil, not a week passes without either attacks by Pakistani terrorists from across the Line of Control (LoC) or firing/mortar bombing across the International Boundary (IB). In 2015 itself, till 31 October, 80 terrorists have been killed and 10 captured alive.
While the Army has maintained a state of vigil that has frustrated many infiltration attempts by Pak military trained and supported Pakistani, non-Pakistani foreign or Kashmiri terrorists, the price the Army has paid over the past almost three decades and continues to pay in this gamut of asymmetric warfare is heavy in terms of casualties. State and central armed police also suffer their share of casualties, but the Army has exceptionally lost a large number of personnel including officers-often as senior as colonels- owing to their customarily leading from the front. After both the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars, a comment often heard from Pakistani personnel below officer ranks interacting with their Indian counterparts was, "if your kind of officers were leading us the result of the war would have been very different".
Having lost three wars perpetrated by it Pak army's third dictator president Ziaul Haq Islamised the army and launched his plan of "bleeding India by a million cuts" by raising terrorist groups to wage long term proxy war against India. The fourth dictator president Pervez Musharraf continued and further developed on the terrorist-proxy war but following the setback of his Kargil misadventure, agreed to a ceasefire towards end of 2003. While this ceasefire held despite countless violations, ever since the BJP government took over Pak army/ISI have been in overdrive with firing/mortars along the IB stretch and in attacks across the LoC in the valley.
Many Indian Army personnel who laid down their lives or survived protecting India's borders/ integrity deserve to be awarded. Not all who have fought with outstanding gallantry get awarded and there are many who deserve to be written about/ publicized. The most recent example is a highly qualified special forces (SF) officer,
Colonel Santosh Mahadik, Sena Medal, Commanding Officer, 41 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), succumbed to fatal injuries following a fierce gun battle with Lashkar e Taiyyaba (LeT) terrorists on 17 November 2015, in Kupwara district. Fourteen years ago, in 2001, in the same district, Santosh, then in 21Para Special Forces ((SF), formerly 21 Maratha Light Infantry), whose radio call-sign Santo became his nick-name, was awarded the Sena Medal for eliminating four terrorists also of LeT.
It was in Sainik School, Satara that Santosh became a good boxer and horse-rider. Following his graduation, he was selected to join the Indian Military Academy. With his kind of temperament, sports achievements, doggedness, drive etc, it was not surprising that he got commissioned into 21 Para (SF), in December 1998. Apart from being an accomplished paratrooper, Santo added a coveted special forces qualification of becoming a clearance diver.
Having spent 6 of his almost 18 years of service fighting Pakistani terrorists in J&K, he had participated in several operations.
In August 2014, Colonel Santosh Mahadik took over as Commanding Officer, 41 RR, one of the four RR battalions of Maratha Light Infantry, raised in the mid 1990s and deployed in Kupwara since then. On 13 November 2015, 41 RR launched an operation to flush out terrorists suspected to be from Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba hiding in the dense forest of Haji Naka-Manigah in Kupwara district, near the LoC. Col Mahadik's team had been in hot pursuit of the terrorists, who had fled deep into the forests and on 17 November 2015, the fourth day of the operation, he was shot and grievously wounded and died later in hospital on the same day. General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command Lt Gen DS Hooda expressed condolences saying "We owe a deep debt of gratitude to officers like Santosh who lead from the front and are willing to pay the ultimate price in the fight against terrorism."
Born in a humble family surnamed Ghorpode, at Pogarwadi, in Maharashtra's Satara district, where his father was a dairy farmer, Santosh was adopted by his maternal grandfather, whose surname Mahadik, became his also. In 2003, Santo married Swati, a specialist educator of differently abled children and shortly later adopted his niece, who after a number of years of schooling, joined her parents. Swati's and Santo's own children are daughter, Kartiki, born in 2004 and son, Swaraj, born in 2011.
When Col Mahadik's mortal remains escorted by officers and ranks of RR/Maratha Light Infantry were brought to Pogarwadi for the last rites, there was a huge crowd of mourners from villages all around as well as senior serving officers and veterans who had already converged there to pay their tributes. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar re-adjusted his busy schedule to attend the funeral at Pogarwadi, known for many of its residents serving in and retired from the Army. Chants of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai…Santosh Mahadik Amar Rahe" filled the air as Santo was laid to rest with a 21-gun salute and full military honours at Pogarwadi's Zilla Parishad school ground. Every inch of the primary school premises was filled with people wanting to pay their last respects to the slain officer. The two most poignant of moments were when Col Santosh Mahadik's 11 year old daughter Kartiki, escorted by an officer and two Maratha Light Infantrymen in ceremonial uniform, went up to the flower-decked coffin and through her tears, proudly saluted her father and little later when Swaraj, Col Mahadik's five-year-old son, similarly escorted, lit his father's funeral pyre. While for his grandfather, now over 100 years of age, bedridden, but mentally alert, Santosh's death came as a rude shock, for his mother it is worse as his father died over a year ago. Swati, who is dealing with her grief as a Veer Naari (war widow), has expressed her strong desire to join the Army, in which case, with her qualifications, she may be a great asset to the Army Education Corps. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
