Devinder Singh Jass an engineer 23 year old with a cushy job in a MNC at Deloitte and few months to his MBA degree was set for a comfortable life. With the kind of money and job every teenager aspires for.
But fate, as they call it, had other ideas.
Ever since childhood, he was bitten by the army bug. Ha completed his schooling from Guru Har Kishan Public School near India Gate, after that he enrolled for a degree in computer engineering at IIIT, Allahabad. While pursuing engineering, he applied for the army but could not clear the test.He then enrolled for MBA at GLA, Mathura. He tried once again to get into the army and a few months before getting his MBA degree, he joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA).
From there on he volunteered for the special forces and after three months of gruelling training, he was inducted into the 1 Parachute Regiment. He was posted in Kupwara. On 23rd Feb 2010, 26-year-old Captain Jass along with Naik Selva Kumar and paratrooper Imtiyaz Ahmad Thokar died fighting terrorists in Sopore's Chinkipora area, 54 kilometres from Srinagar.
Parents of Captain Devinder Singh Jass are proud of the 26-year-old Army officer who was killed in a fierce encounter with Lashkar terrorists in Sopore on Tuesday.Just two days before he died, he had shot down five militants in Sopore.
"I received a call from Srinagar that this has happened. All we can say is that we have lost everything. We have a daughter and a son but son is not there now. Our daughter is older and the son was younger. He was 26 years old. What can we say? We read that the encounter has ended now, in which two other soldiers have also lost their lives," said Bhupinder Singh, Captain Devinder Singh's father.
The only son of Dalbir Kaur and Bhupinder Singh, Captain Jass was supposed to be home for Holi at their Mahagun Mansion in Indirapuram.Instead, his father will be receiving the body on Thursday. "I am a believer in fate. If something has to happen, you can't prevent it," Bhupinder said philosophically.
Captain Jass's mother is sick and bedridden while his elder sister Harpreet is a professor of education at Jamia Millia University. "Very few people get to do what they want in life. That way, he was lucky to have achieved what he wanted," Bhupinder added. "Since childhood he was very passionate about joining the Indian Army. We left the choice to him," he said. A soft-spoken man, Captain Devender singh Jass was full of courage. "He was never afraid of taking risks. He opted to become a para-commando and went for training with 1 Para in J& K. He said he was very happy." Talking about his son, Bhupinder said, "He was so adamant to join the army that he took the entrance exam a second time and cleared it.
"He had three months to go for the completion of his MBA programme when a private firm selected him through campus placement." The last time his parents talked to him was on Saturday. He had also spoken to a friend of his on Monday before leaving for the operation to flush out terrorists hiding in a building in Chinkipora.
Terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir virtually trapped an elite special forces team and whisked away an Army Captain before killing him in Sopore on Tuesday. In an encounter that ended after nearly 15 hours of fierce gunbattle, two Army jawans and five terrorists were also killed.
Apart from Captain Devinder Singh Jass, the other Armymen killed are Naik Selva Kumar and Paratrooper Imtiyaz Ahmad Thokar of 1 PARA. Paratrooper Imtiyaz belongs to the Shupiyan district of Kashmir.The gun battle began at about 5:30 am on Tuesday. The police and the Army learnt about the militants hiding in a house and launched a joint operation. The militants, however, were well-prepared for an assault.The Army Captain led his team close to the house, only to be met by a rain of grenades. A jawan was killed and several troops were injured and the Captain was overpowered by militants and taken away into the house.
When a fellow officer called on the Captain's phone to offer safe passage for his release, the militants said: "We are ready to get killed. We've killed your Captain." They also refused to release the Captain's body. It is believed that between four and six militants were hiding in three houses and firing at the forces. Sources say two militants had escaped after the initial shootout.The forces denied that there was ever a hostage situation saying the Army Captain had been killed immediately after he was taken captive by the militants.
The captain killed belonged to Ghaziabad. The jawans were from Pulwama and Thanjavur. All thee were from 1 Para SF.
No comments :
Post a Comment