J-K heroes dominate gallantry awards list

As President A P J Abdul Kalam gave away Kirti Chakras, the second highest peacetime gallantry award, to the wives of Col Gurbir Singh Sarna and Maj James Thomas here at a sombre function, it sent a grim reminder that Jammu and Kashmir still continues to be the toughest battleground for the Indian Army.

Both the recipients had died fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir "" Col Sarna of Rashtriya Rifles at Pattan on December 23 and Maj Thomas of 10 Sikh Light Infantry at Poonch in January.

The trend continued as the President handed over more awards to the next of kin of the recipients of Shaurya Chakras, the third highest gallantry award.

The awardees "" Lt Col Vinay Rao Chauhan, Capt Shashi Bhushan Singh, Niab Subedar Raj Bahadur, C H M Sarabjit Singh, Niak Gurjant Singh, Sepoy Satnam Singh and Gunner Ranjeet Singh "" had laid down their lives while fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rifleman H B Singh of 7, Assam Rifles, was the only exception. He had died while fighting militants in the North-East.

Statistics have once again revealed that it is the senior officers of the Indian Army who lead the most daring operations.

According to analysts, 40 per cent of the awardees of gallantry medals being officers, illustrates this. "No force in the country would suffer such high casualties of the officers," sources in the defence ministry said.