New Delhi: Rectifying an oversight, Indian Air Force (IAF) will add the name of Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna who was killed in 1990 by separatist Yasin Malik, on the National War Memorial.
“Of the four IAF personnel killed on that day, the name of three was already on the National War Memorial. The name of Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna got left out due to an oversight and now his name will be added on the National War Memorial,” said sources. Kashmiri separatist leader Malik, who heads the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had allegedly on 25 January 1990 led a group of militants in Kashmir who shot squadron leader Khanna and three others, besides injuring several other IAF personnel.
National War Memorial, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2019, honours Indian soldiers who fell while defending the country after Independence.
The names of all armed forces men (from Army, Navy and Air Force) who died in the service of the nation after 15th August 1947 are inscribed on the walls of the Memorial in golden letters.
All the wreath lying ceremonies to honour the Indian soldiers are now mostly held at the National War Memorial. The names of personnel killed in action are provided by the respective services to the National War Memorial.
Nirmal Khanna, the wife of Squadron Leader Khanna, had recently questioned why her husband’s name was not on the National War Memorial. “I want to ask defence ministry and the government of India whether the names of the Indian Air Force Personnel, including my husband killed by Yasin Malik appear in the National War Memorial in New Delhi. If yes, please inform me on which number plate and if not why it is so?,” she had told media in Jammu last month.
Before it, there was no National War Memorial in memory of the soldiers, who died while defending the nation after 1947. India Gate was built by the British to honour the 83,000 British Indian Army soldiers who died during World War 1 and the third Anglo-Afghan War. Amar Jawan Jyoti was started in January 1972 to honour the 3,843 Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
