NEW DELHI :
Captain Haneef Uddin was preparing to celebrate his 25th birthday at an altitude of 18,500 ft in Kargil when a bullet fell him in the summer of 1999.
Calcutta:
Captain Haneef Uddin was preparing to celebrate his 25th birthday at an altitude of 18,500ft in Kargil when a bullet fell him in the summer of 1999.
The young officer’s story of valour remains at the centre of a 13-part series on little known heroes of the Kargil war on All India Radio’s FM Rainbow station that is played out at 3pm every Sunday.
On Kargil Vijay Diwas on Thursday, Major Akhil Pratap, an ex-army officer who has been hosting the series, will have family members of 13 such unsung heroes as guests for a live-chat on AIR.
“Kargil was one of those battles which witnessed many casualties. There are several faces whose stories have remained unheard and untold despite all the coverage by the media. I have tried to dust out some of those faces and present them to India,” said Akhil, who was last posted with the Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu and Kashmir in 2010.
“I believe this is the first time that AIR is hosting such a show on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas.”
Born in Delhi, Captain Haneef was a service code officer attached to Rajputana Rifles and posted at Turtuk during the war. His body lay at the height for 46 days before it was handed over to his family.
The army later renamed a sub-sector in Kargil after Captain Haneef.
Apart from Captain Haneef, those feature in the radio series are Captain R Jerry Prem Raj from a small village in Venganoor near Thiruvananthapuram and several others who fell to bullets at Kargil.
“Each of these men had responded to the war-call differently. But they died almost the same way,” Akhil said.
Captain Prem Raj was with his wife on honeymoon in Ooty when a call came from his headquarters and he rushed to Drass.
On the intervening night of July 6 and 7, he was on duty as observation post officer, trying to locate enemy camps. A bullet first hit his shoulder. He fell down, stood up and fired back. A shower of bullets pierced Captain Prem Raj. The army has a hill to his dedication – the gun hill in the Drass sector.
Commissioned in June 1997, Haneef was doing his rounds braving the sub-zero temperature in Turtuk when he suddenly faced a shower of bullets from an altitude.
“Haneef’s parents didn’t seek anything, just his body. The government honoured him with Vir Chakra posthumously,” said Akhil.
Prem Raj, too, was honoured the same for taking bullets in the Drass sector two years after he was commissioned as an artillery officer.
“Prem Raj’s brother is an IAF person and elder to him by three years. Together, the two brothers had brought home several trophies and laurels. But when Prem Raj’s body arrived, his brother stood all alone,” said Akhil. “We want to share these stories with India.”
The Thursday’s live chat is scheduled for 8 am.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> West Bengal / by Kinsuk Basu in Calcutta / July 26th, 2018