Uttarakhand pays homage to martyrs who laid down their lives for motherland
Shishir Mall and Mohan Nath Goswami attained martyrdom while protecting the nation against infiltrators. Shishir and Mohan were both residents of Uttarakhand and laid down their lives in the while on duty in Kashmir. They were posted in different regiments of the army. On 3rd September, four suspected Pakistani militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba and an elite para commando of the Army were killed in a gunfight in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. Three soldiers were injured in the overnight gunfight.
The police said the four slain Pakistani militants were active in the area and it was not a fresh infiltration. The search operation was jointly launched by the Special Operation Group of the J&K Police, 6 Rashtriya Rifles battalion and 9 Para at 7 pm.
“As the searches were going on, the first contact with the militants was established around 9 pm. In the initial fierce gunfight, a militant was killed while a sepoy of 9 Para Battalion received grievous injuries,” sources said. The sepoy later died. The slain Para commando was identified as Mohan Nath Goswami, a resident of Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
Less than 24 hours earlier Shishir Mall who was a resident of Dehradun was involved in a 9 hour long encounter with terrorists in Rafiabad. Police said a joint operation with army was launched following a tip off about presence of terrorists in the area. As the security forces zeroed in the cordon, they came under heavy fire from the holed up terrorist.
CM Harish Rawat paid tributes to the martyrs on Friday said that the state will fully stand by the center’s stance on terrorism. He also said that militant activities in Kashmir and surrounding regions had increased lately and everyone should stay alert to counter the threat of the terrorists.
