NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, AUG 24
The Indian army on Monday celebrated 23 years of homecoming of the 23 boys who were brought back from the clutches of militants in 1998. Army in its outreach programme to felicitate these 23 individuals tried to send across a message to the youth of the Kashmir valley to shun the path of violence and come back to the mainstream.
Event was held at Manasbal lake in which rescued individuals attended with families
Lt Gen YK Joshi, Army Cdr @NorthernComd_IA felicitated them & said youth on path of terrorism will be given a 2nd chance to come back, integrate with family to join mainstream & lead normal life pic.twitter.com/RAXvdlK1NC
— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) August 24, 2021
To commemorate this day, an event was organised at Manasbal lake, wherein, the rescued individuals, along with their families attended the event.
A cultural event consisting of an Audio Visual Clip of memories of these individuals of their harrowing experiences with the terrorists in the jungle was presented and a skit about the same was also performed.
On August 23, 1998, a group of 23 young Kashmiri boys was rescued while they were attempting to cross the LoC in the Gurez sector of Bandipora district.
Army said that these young boys were compelled by a fellow Kashmiri named Abdul Hamid Gada alias Bambar Khan, a resident of Ganderbal for joining terror outfits.
”The army is observing the 23rd anniversary of the homecoming of 23 boys who were forced to pick up arms but were rescued by the army in the Gurez sector and handed over to their families later. Today, I am glad that these 23 men are living a happy life back home with their families. I am sure all these 23 men will be satisfied with the decision they took 23 years ago. We have seen how families of young people are pleading with them to come back. It’s heartbreaking to see this happening and we make all our efforts to ensure that we seek surrenders and facilitate surrenders even when we are in the midst of operations. We want youth to come back to the mainstream,” said Yogesh Kumar Joshi, General officer Commanding-in-Chief (GoC-in-C) of the Army’s Udhampur-based Northern Command.
The boys were with the militants for over a period of 10 days from August 4 to 14 in 1998. On 23rd, someone informed Brigade Headquarters that a large number of youths were seen in the jungles near the Kishenganga River. An operation was started, led by then Captain J S Budhwar.
“23 is a very lucky number. It was on 23rd August that 23 boys were rescued by us. Again after 23 years, we are meeting. The area where this operation took place was just 2 km from the LoC. We had the information. I remember it was about to sunset and we managed to reach the area and cordon it. We had no clue whether they were going to Pakistan or coming from there. But we had info about the presence of children. I had told my jawans to hold fire as I saw a movement of a small boy. We approached that boy as he was terrified and he told us there are many children like him who were being taken to Pakistan. We managed to rescue the whole group,” said Budhwar, Brigadier Indian Army.
These rescued men are now leading normal lives as no cases were registered against them at that point of time. They are not only an inspiration to their own children but to the youth of the Kashmir valley.
Lieutenant General DP Pandey, GOC Chinar Corps, and other senior civil and military officials, also attended the function.
The Indian army appealed to the local youth to shun the violence and join the mainstream.
