Braveheart major dies fighting terror
Saturday, December 2, 2006 (Srinagar, Mumbai):
Thirty-two-year-old Major Manish Pitambare of 3 Paras died from the injuries he received during an operation, in which he killed the Hizbul's most wanted commander Suhail Faisal.
After an eventful tenure, Major Manish Pitambare and his unit of special forces were about to leave Kashmir.
In less than a week, the 3 Paras and Pits, as the Major was fondly known, would have been back in a peace station.
But when the unit got a tip off that Suhail Faisal the Hizbul's, topmost man in the valley, was holed up in a crowded locality, the commanding officer zeroed in one of his most effective officers.
That was to become Major Pitambare's final mission
"Pitambare's first concern was to avoid any civilian casualties. As the team rushed in, Pitambare's buddy got hit. To save him, Pitambare engaged Faisal and killed him but in the process he was also injured."
"Pitambare was a daredevil soldier. He had many successful operations to his credit. Many a times he carried out these operations by strictly avoiding civilian casualties and at a great risk to himself”," said Col GP Singh, CO of 3 Paras.
Just before he left, he sent an SMS to his wife. They were married three years ago and had an 18-month-old daughter.
"He sent me an SMS saying that he is leaving for an important mission and will call me immediately after returning."
"I replied and waited for a call, but it never came. For him, the army was everything. We all were secondary when it came to his job and his mission," said Mugdha Pitambare, Major Manish Pitambare's wife.
Manish's family informs that he was an extraordinarily bright student for whom any career was an option, but he chose to join the army.
"He was good in his studies, excellent sportsman and passionate about music. He could have chosen any career, but he had no other ambition but to join the army," said Major Manish Pitambare's mother.
Unlike many of us for whom war exists in the past in Kargil, for the Major's friends, family and buddies, there is no escape from the endless everyday war being fought in Kashmir.
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