BSF Head Constable
Lal Fam Kima, killed in an unprovoked Pakistani sniper fire along the
International Border in Jammu on Thursday, was a “fearless” soldier and had
once saved the lives of a dozen of his colleagues during a counter-terrorist
operation along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Tum sala pin
nikalega”, Kima had screamed before he emptied his light machine gun (LMG) to
kill a terrorist holed up inside a ‘dhoke’ (mud house) in Gool village during
an operation in the winter of 1998.
The village is
located in the upper reaches of the Pir Panjal range along the India-Pakistan
Line of Control (LoC).
Recalling that
operation, Kima’s then commanding officer (CO) wrote an emotional and endearing
post that was shared with multiple Border Security Force (BSF) officers over
social media platforms.
Kima (50), was
killed in the line of duty on Thursday after a Pakistani sniper bullet hit him
from across the border in Jammu’s Ramgarh sector along the India-Pakistan
International Border.
A resident of
Aizawl, the head constable joined the border force in 1996 and was currently
posted with the 148th BSF battalion that is entrusted to guard the IB.
In the “remembrance”
post for the gallant soldier, Kima’s former CO Sukhminder (only the first name
was mentioned in the post) said when he heard about the death in the morning,
his “heart argued against his mind”, fearing if it was his old colleague who
was killed in an unprovoked firing incident at the IB.
In the post, the
former CO said he had “spent all these years quoting Kima’s conspicuous act of
bravery and alertness to young officers and troops” during the about
25-year-old LoC operation.
The post, accessed
by PTI, stated that the terrorists were holed up inside a ‘dhoke’ and after an
exchange of fire and grenades, the terrorists blew themselves up in order to
carry out a ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) attack so that the surrounding BSF party also
gets killed.
Even as smoke kept
billowing from the ‘dhoke’, the BSF team rushed inside the smouldering remnants
of the mud hut and found three dead terrorists.
“Suddenly there
was a loud shriek. TUM SALA PIN NIKALEGA??!!!! Followed by a burst fire of LMG,
sending everyone scampering for cover,” the post read.
“This was Lal Fam
Kima (he was constable then), who had spotted the almost dead terrorist (taken
for dead by BSF) removing the pin from the grenade even while he was taking his
last breath,” he said.
“While the rest of
the party was busy rummaging and recovering war-like stores, it was the
ever-alert Kima who spotted the surreptitious movement of a dying terrorist
trying to blow off the grenade,” the former CO wrote.
Had the terrorist
been successful, he added, we would have certainly suffered dozens of
casualties and the successful and clean operation would have turned sour.
“Today, Lal Fam
Kima attained martyrdom. He was fearless back then when he was a young
constable of two to three years of service and fearless now as a Head
constable. This simple, humble and unassuming warrior lived bravely and laid
down his life bravely,” he wrote in the post shared amongst several BSF
personnel and officers.
A wreath was laid
at the mortal remains of Kima in Jammu before his body was sent to his home
state Mizoram. He is survived by his mother, wife, two daughters and a son.
PTI
