Journalism of Courage
Eleven days after Army eliminated four heavily armed terrorists at Kathar village in Arnia sector, the Army on Tuesday facilitated a local villager who had informed its nearby post about their presence in the area.
Concealing his identity for security reasons, a defence ministry spokesman Lt Colonel Manish Mehta said that this “Jagruk Hindustani” (awakened Indian) was felicitated with Army Commander’s commendation card by General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Command Lt General K J Singh at a function organised by Army at village Pindi.
Three armymen and five civilians were killed by four terrorists before being eliminated by troops during an over 24-hour-long encounter on November 27-28. The terrorists were well entrenched inside an abandoned army bunker.
The villager’s display of courage, initiative and sense of duty by providing information to the nearby troops about terrorists in army uniform impressed the Army, the spokesman said, adding that the operation was successful due to wholehearted and daring cooperation from villagers of Pindi, Kathar, Ala, Nandpur and Khour. The Army Commander during his address thanked the villagers for standing shoulder to shoulder with the Indian Army and said that a Sadbhavana Project benefiting these five villages would be implemented soon.
