AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 127 of 332 period, the number of battalions rose steadily as the government gave permission for new raisings. It is a matter of pride that our regiment has performed very creditably in every formation that they formed part of, be it on the sports field, firing ranges or in the operational role. Formation commanders specifically requested for JAK battalions to be posted in their command in view of the reputation that the regiment carried. Second Lieutenant RM Sharma was awarded the Kirti Chakra in Nagaland in 1960. The regiment had performed very creditably in the Sino India war in 1962, the Indo Pak war of 1965, the Chola Pass actions against the Chinese in 1967 where in 10 JAK RIF gave a befitting reply to the Chinese at Chola Pass and the Commanding officer Lt Col Mahatma Singh was decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra. During the Indo Pak war in 1971, Lt. Col S Kapur of 1 JAK RIF was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra. Other battalions won several gallantry awards in the eastern and western sectors. In the Counter insurgency operations in Manipur, on 6 July 1981, Second Lieutenant later Maj General Cyrus Addie Pithawalla of 17 JAKRIF captured alive a fleeing extremist. Although wounded on his shoulder with a bullet injury, Cyrus personally led the charge to capture him. The extremist later turned out to be Bisheshwar Singh, the top most leader of the People’s Liberation Army. He was awarded the Ashok Chakra and the Commanding officer Lt Col RP Sinh was decorated with the Kirti Chakra. Our battalions while serving as peace keeping forces under the UN, and during the Sri Lanka operations brought glory to the regiment and the nation. Our Crowning Glory- Kargil Operations-May-July 1999 Thirteenth Battalion, The Jammu and Kashmir Rifles -Teevra Terah -The Bravest Of The Brave. The Battalion was raised on 1 October 1966 at Golconda (Hyderabad) with a class composition of 100% Dogras and continues to remains as such till date. It has a chequered history and has taken part in insurgency operations in Nagaland during 1971 and again during 1979-83, Operation Rakshak in 1998, Operation Vijay in 1999 and served with the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea July 2005- Aug 2006. It won the COAS Unit Citation in 2000 as the BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE and also Citations from Force Commander in 2006 and GOC-in- C (Western Command) in 2014. The Kargil action actually commenced from early May 1999, when intrusions by Pak forces were