‘Tum sala pin nikalega’: BSF man killed at IB once saved dozens of his colleagues

New Delhi: BSF Head Constable Lal Fam Kima, killed in an unprovoked Pakistani sniper fire along the International Border in Jammu on Thursday, was a fearless soldier and had once saved the lives of a dozen of his colleagues during an counter-terrorist operation along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Tum sala pin nikalega”, Kima had screamed before he emptied his light machine gun (LMG) to kill a terrorist holed up inside a ‘dhoke’ (mud house) in Gool village during an operation in the winters of 1998-99.

The village is located in the upper reaches of the Pir Panjal range along the India-Pakistan Line of Control (LoC).

Recalling the operation, Kima’s then commanding officer (CO) wrote an emotional and an endearing post that was shared with multiple Border Security Force (BSF) officers over social media platforms.

Kima, 50, was killed in the line of duty on Thursday after a Pakistani sniper bullet hit him from across the border in Jammu’s Ramgarh sector along the India-Pakistan International Border.

A resident of Aizawl, the head constable joined the border force in 1996, and was currently posted with the 148th BSF battalion that is entrusted to guard the IB.

In the “remembrance” post for the gallant soldier, Kima’s former CO said when he heard about the death in the morning, his “heart argued against his mind”, fearing if it was his old colleague who was killed in an unprovoked firing incident.

In the post, the former CO said he had “spent all these years quoting Kima’s conspicuous act of bravery and alertness to young officers and troops” during the about 25-year-old LoC operation.

The post, accessed by PTI, stated that the terrorists were holed up inside a ‘dhoke’ and after an exchange of fire and grenades, the militants blew themselves up in order to carry out a ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) attack so that the surrounding BSF party also gets killed.

Even as smoke kept billowing from the ‘dhoke’, the BSF team rushed inside the smouldering remnants of the mud hut and found three dead terrorists.

“Suddenly there was a loud shriek. TUM SALA PIN NIKALEGA??!!!! Followed by a burst fire of LMG, sending everyone scampering for cover,” the post read.

“This was Lal Fam Kima (he was constable then), who had spotted the almost dead terrorist (taken for dead by BSF) removing the pin from grenade even while he was taking his last breath,” he said.

“While rest of the party was busy rummaging and recovering war like stores, it was the ever-alert Kima who spotted the surreptitious movement of dying terrorist trying to blow off the grenade,” the former CO wrote.

Had the terrorist been successful, he added, we would have certainly suffered dozens of casualties and the successful and clean operation would have turned sour.

“Today, Lal Fam Kima attained martyrdom. He was fearless back then when he was a young constable of two-three years of service and fearless now as a Head constable.

“This simple, humble and unassuming warrior lived bravely and laid down his life bravely,” he wrote in the post shared amongst several BSF personnel and officers.

A wreath was laid at the mortal remains of Kima in Jammu before his body was sent to his home state Mizoram. He is survived by his mother, wife, two daughters and a son.