Srinagar: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Monday visited Salani, a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Poonch, to meet the family of rifleman Aurangzeb who was killed by militants after kidnapping him from the Valley's Shopian district on June 14.
“The Army chief spent some time with the bereaved family to condole his death,” Colonel N.N. Joshi, the Udhampur-based spokesman of the Northern Command said. He added, “While speaking to the father of the brave-heart, Gen. Rawat assured all possible assistance to the family. He also told it that the supreme sacrifice rendered by the brave son of India will not go in vain”.
Rifleman Aurangzeb belonging to the Army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles and was posed in southern Shopian. He was abducted by militants while going home for Eid on June 14. Later his bullet-riddled corpse was found lying in Guso village of neighbouring Pulwama district the same evening.
The police sources had said that the Army jawan was travelling in a private car which was intercepted by gunmen at Kalampora in Pulwama. The car had been earlier at around 9 am on that day stopped by the soldiers outside the 44 RR camp at Shadimarg in Shopian and asked the driver to drop the soldier at a bus stand in Shopian town.
The slain soldier was the personal security guard of Major Shukla who suffered grievous injuries during an encounter with militants in which top Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Sameer Tiger was killed along with another militant on April 30.
Meanwhile, the Army Chief has visited forward areas in J&K and was also briefed by Lt. Gen. Saranjeet Singh, GOC White Knight Corps, on the prevailing security situation in the State. Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, Army Commander, Northern Command accompanied the Army Chief during his visit, defence spokesman Col. Joshi said.
He added that the Army Chief, during his visit to forward areas, also interacted with the soldiers and “complemented them for their professionalism, selfless commitment and loyalty”. The spokesman further said, “He exhorted the troops to continue to work with zeal and dedication to overcome the challenges posted by weather, enemy and terrorism. He also commended the synergy between all security agencies and civil administration in Jammu and Kashmir”.
