The Indian Army has released the names of five soldiers killed in a terrorist attack on a truck in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch on Thursday. The deceased soldiers are havildar Mandeep Singh, lance naik Debashish Baswal, lance naik Kulwant Singh, sepoy Harkrishan Singh and sepoy Sewak Singh, the Army’s 16 Corps based in Nagrota said.
The victims were attached with the Army’s Rashtriya Rifles unit and were deployed for counterterrorist operations in the area.
The incident took place after the vehicle they were travelling in was fired upon by terrorists in the Rajouri sector in Jammu leading to the death of five soldiers, and injuring another. Operations were launched to trace the perpetrators, but so far there was no clarity yet on the attackers.
The dead have been identified as Hav Mandeep Singh, L/Nk Kulwant Singh, Sep Harkrishan Singh and Sep Sewak Singh from Punjab, and L/Nk Debashish Baswal from Odisha.
It’s so saddening that it keeps happening with our Jawans. Four out of them were Sikhs and belonged to Punjab.
Very interestingly Sikhs have had a very long history with war, defences and armies since hundreds of years.Sikhs have an indomitable spirit. They are full of life, and always ready to take on the world. However, the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 was a traumatic blow to mankind as it led to the displacement of millions of people and the loss of innumerable lives, Khalsa Vox reported.
Since Punjab was ripped down in the middle, the western part went to Pakistan, and the Eastern half remained in India. And the group of people who suffered the most were Sikhs because they were displaced and ‘uprooted’ as most of them migrated to India whilst a minority chose to stay back in Pakistan.
Sikhs have always been at the forefront of all the wars fought by India as well as its military operations. It was only because of the immense contribution of the Sikhs to the armed forces that Punjab has been known as the sword arm of the nation.
The Sikhs have not only contributed in large numbers in different ranks in the Indian Army, which even has special regiments for Sikh soldiers, but Sikh officers have also headed the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force (IAF) as service chiefs.
This is in addition to Army commanders who led or are leading the Army on several fronts. As per data placed before Parliament in February 2022, around 7,800 soldiers are selected every year from Punjab.
This is the second highest in the country, just next to Uttar Pradesh (UP), which is almost five times bigger than Punjab. Sikh soldiers have also made the biggest contributions in terms of gallantry awards.
surjitt sahani
