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"We have to come to see and salute the place of the martyrdom of our son. It was a dream for us to visit the holy place and pray for our son", the late captain's father Neiselie Kenguriise told a visiting correspondent in Tololing on Saturday.
As they took a glimpse of Tololing ridgeline captured by their son and his platoon, tears welled in the eyes of Neiselie, his wife Dinuo and daughter.
Captain Neikezhakuo led his platoon to Tololing ridgeline overlooking an important army formation, ejected Pakistani regulars and re-captured the ridgeline in a five-day-long battle. But he lost his life in mortar shelling on June 18, 1999.
Captain Neikezhakuo, who hailed from Kohima in Nagaland, was awarded Mahavir Chakra (MVC).
"My son did his duty to the nation with utmost dedication. We have come here to pay homage to him along with other martyrs, who defeated the enemy in one of the most difficult wars", the captain's parents said.
Like Captain Neikezhakuo, another soldier Captain Manoj Pandey achieved martyrdom by beating back Pakistani troops and re-capturing Khalobar ridgeline, one of the most dominant positions captured by the Pakistani troops in Kargil sector. He died on July 3, 1999 in this sector.
"He is my hero as well as the nation's hero. He braved enemy fire and re-captured Khalobar ridgeline and pushed back Pakistani troops. He was given Param Vir Chakra (PVC) posthumously," his brother Manmohan Pandey, who had come to visit the memorial from Lucknow, said.
Flanked by his mother, Manmohan said, "I had come here to pray at the place where my brother sacrificed his life in the line of duty. This place is a temple for me".
"My father and mother have visited the memorial several times and it was my dream to visit the place," he said.
Praising his junior Captain Vikram Batra for his bravery in the battle front in Drass sector where he laid down his life, Colonel Gurpreet Singh, Commanding Officer of 13 Jammu and Kashmir (JAK) rifles said his unit won many awards.
"Our unit 13 JAK rifles achieved the title of brave among the bravest as it won two PVCs in Kargil battle", Col Singh, who was then Major and was directly looking after the battle front in Drass, said.
Captain Batra and Lance Naik Sanjay Kumar had won PVCs for their gallantry and both belonged to 13 JAK rifles. As many as 533 jawans and army officers laid down their lives and 86 of them got PVCs, MVCs and VCs for the Kargil war.
While four soldiers, Captain Batra and Captain Pandey were awarded PVCs (posthumously) respectively, two PVCs were awarded to Lance Naik Joginder Yadav of grenadier and Sanjay Kumar of 13 JAK rifles.
The two-day "Operation Vijay" celebrations from today will mark the victory of Indian forces over their Pakistani army regulars ten years ago.
All re-captured heights would be lit up during the celebrations.
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we all are proud of you brave soldiersi just want to remind all indians that not to fight among themselves and be united and show our unity to the entire world i feel that we are not hindus nor muslims nor christians sikhs etc but we belong to a beautiful and united religion called india we should never forget we are indians now a days lotv of our political leaders are dividing us in the name of religion caste creed state etc let us show them we are not divided but instead very strongly united jai hind bharat matha ki jai im proud to be called as an indian and i am ready to protect my country and my fellow men in the time of need by an indian
WE ARE THE DEAD,SOME TIME AGO WE LIVED,WE LOVED AND WERE LOVED AND NOW ALMOST FORGOTTEN.THIS IS THE SAD STORY OF UNIFORMED MEN
Salute to the Brave soldiers,who laod their life for their mother land and who give uson to give sacrifice for our BHARAT.
The song "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" comes to mind. Yes, we should shed a tear
We salute the brave jawans who gave their lives or got injured defending our territory. My deepest thanks to the families of these brave soldiers. They should be remembered and saluted on this 10th anniversary. The surviving members of the martyrs/injured soldiers's families (from all wars) should be taken care of with all their needs met by the government and the people of India.
Indians and Pakistanis can rightly pay tributes to the soldiers who die fighting for the folly committed by their grand parents in 1947. Alas! would these Indians and Pakistanis (two sons of the same mother) ever think of again getting together? How long more do they want to celebrate the blood-spilling of their brothers and sons and enjoy bucking them on?
What a wonderfully positive thought!!Two quarrelling children reunited.
I just want to salute and pay my respect to our fallen heroes,long may they live and be remembered, Jai Hind.
Do we really need politicians to attend the ceremonies to honour the martyrs of our forces? if the politicians dont attend the ceremonies, does the sacrifice of the soldiers become less important? i dont need any politician to make my tribute the Warriors of India. my heart goes out the proud families of the bravest soldiers. stop politicing the sacrifice of the soldiers of india!
It is a national disgracce that no justice is done in Kargil case!! Law and order means nothing in Republic of India. Justice is not blind. Pakistan is allowed to get away time and again. If any country attacks you, a stern response of nationa is a natural thing, but Indians were lectured by wise morons like Vajpayee then, and vote bank hungry Sonia Rahul now. How can you tolerate such pathetic leadership in Indian politics that refuses to fire a single bullet in direction of Pakistan.
The president has apparantly refused to attend public tributes to the Kargil Martyrs !!
Thank you brave soldiers! You have surely earned God's favor for you fought to preserve our ancient way of life from the nihilists!
We have make sure that the families of these fallen soldiers are taken care of. Lets inspire our government to pay our Army well.
My beloved countrymen, fill you eyes with tears and remember with gratitude the sacrifice of these unsung heroes.
" Indi " EVEN MY COMMENTS ARE BLOCKED BY I.E. TO PROTECT WHITE " DYNASTY " RULE OVER ONE BILLION BROWN PEOPLE .HAS THIS PATHETIC GOVERMENT EVER REMEMBER OR MENTION ABOUT THOSE 533 " SHAHID JAWANS " WHO DIED FIGHTING PAKIS. NO THEY ARE BUSY WORKING ON DAMAGE CONTROL TO COVER UP BIGGEST COCK UP IN INDIAN HISTORY . THEY WANT TO START COMPOSITE DIALOGUE AS SSON AS POSSIBLE WHILE INNOCENT " JAWANS " ARESTILL KILLED BY TERRORIST ON L.o.C. DOES THIS GOVERMENT NOR MEDIA CARE . NO , HELL WITH THEM . THROW FEW PIECES OF BREAD AND THEIR FAMILY WILL BE HAPPY. SHAME ON BOTH .
I salute these BRAVE SOLDIERS and INDIAN ARMY.My RegardsAbhishek
Why IE has blocke my comments !!!!!!!
these are our real national treasures our heroes which makes us all proud to be an indian.our great indian armed forces i salute you from the bottem of my heart.jai jawan.i will pray and hope that the government will recognise the selflessness of their familys and their unconditional patriotism and work tirelessly to make their familys the respect and love they deserve.we should pass a special act which give free health,education,housing to the familys which have made so much of sacrifices for the country.jai jawan
only their families will remember their sacrifice, the rest of the country and the government is too busy for that!!
Vikram Batra and Sanjeev Kumar of 13 JAK RIFLES, belonged to my regiment-The Jammu And Kashmir Rifles. We are proud of these two brave soldiers, who brought the glory to the nation, the Regiment and to them selves, though one of them (Vikram)at the cost of his life.Political parties may have different views on the causes of the Kargil war, but for the soldiers it was their duty to safe guard the nation and it's boundries at ALL COST, which many of them did.Let us remember these self less warriors who sacrificed their lives so that the nation retains it's independence and secured borders.Major (Retd) Virendra SharmaVeteranWellington (New Zealand)