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HomeDaredevil of Indian Army: Para SF Major Mohit Sharma's who became Iftikaar Bhatt to...

Daredevil of Indian Army: Para SF Major Mohit Sharma’s who became Iftikaar Bhatt to kill terrorists

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Satyam Singh
Satyam Singh
Work for my own. Write for my own . Views are of my own . But heart beats for Tricolor.

William Shakespeare once said that “it’s not the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves”. And that was the possible reason behind an underweight and skinny boy who was at his teenage at that time, later going to be known as one of the badass Special Forces operative in Indian Army’s elite 1 Para unit which has been assigned the task of urban warfare and covert as well as overt operations across the Indian Territory and sometimes deep inside across the borders.

The once this so thin and skinny teenager who gave his entrance examination to enroll into the defence forces, after getting inspired from his elder brother’s efforts and dedication, was at Government Engineering College Shegaon, Maharashtra. Although he was there but his whole mind and heart were just waiting for one call so that he can move for the personal interview level. And as it goes “we always reach there where we ought to” came true in his case too. He cleared the National Defence Academy’s entrance and was called for the personal interview. But as like all the parents are concerned about their children, mother hid the call letter from him. But how could she have stopped her son from making a trunk call directly to UPSC and to get verified whether he made it or not? And when he came to know about the news he was waiting for so lon , he made the decision and without wasting any time he packed his luggage and reached his home in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. And obviously his unexpected arrival made his parents both amazed and aghast at the same time. But they could have hardly done anything as the boy had decided to make a move which was next to irreversible for sure.

So here comes the deadline for intervie . But prior to that there was one more test was waiting for the officer in making. As defence forces are well known for their sets of criteria and the level of adherence they have for those criterias. same was the issue with him too as he was underweight by the minimum weight required for his category. Initially it disturbed him , but how could this thing has stopped a hell bent person from achieving his dream. So he modified the diet chart and started following that so he can have more and more protein intake in his body. As a result of this meticulous planning along with the zeal to conquer helped him and he crossed the minimum benchmark of the weight for his category successfully.

So after these all planning and dedicated efforts when the merit list came out it had in it ,along with many others, the name of Mrs Sushila Sharma and Mr Rajendra Sharma’s younger son Mohit Sharma. He was selected for National Defence Academy which is situated in one of the Maharashtra’s beautiful and Cosmopolitan cities, Pune. So after packing up his bag and rest of the luggage Mohit left for NDA leaving behind a proud yet worrying parents and elder brother in his home city Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. So as the course went on Mohit started to learn many things and as well as continuously polishing his works where he used to excel alongwith the new lessons he learnt during his 3 years long course. After the 3 years basic training at NDA Cadet Mohit moved to Dehradun based Indian Military Academy for one year where he won many trophies including the trophy for excellence and was adjudged best cadet of the course. Here after Cadet Mohit was commissioned in Indian Army’s one of the oldest regiment i.e. Madras Regiment 5 battalion as second lieutenant.

Major Mohit Sharma

In 2000, after joining the duty he was sent to Poonch – Rajouri sector to work with 35 Rashtriya Rifles (RR). While working and conducting many counter insurgency operations, high altitude cordon and search operations, foot patrolling, urban warfare and many other types of specialised operations Mohit Sharma displayed the firmness and grit in him. Also the deployment of Para special forces along with the infantry units made Mohit Sharma a curious aspirant who now wanted to join the elite battalion of the Indian Army. So after rigorously preparing for the entrance and taking the guidance of Para special forces officers Captain Mohit appeared for the induction course in 2003 but unfortunately due to bad health he couldn’t clear the course. But this setback didn’t come in between the officer and his dream for which he worked so hard.

As a result Captain Mohit Sharma made it in his second attempt in 2004. Now he was allowed to wear the Maroon beret which only few out of many afford to wear. But before beginning his journey as a paratrooper Captain Mohit was awarded the Chief of the Army staff’s commendation letter for his brave and courageous work during Operation Parakram, which was launched in the backdrop of 2001 Parliament attack on Indian soil. Although the level of satisfaction and happiness was high as he cleared the prestigious training stage to become a para commando but his already worried mother was now more furious after knowing the fact that his son has volunteered for most risky job. But as usual who could have stopped the fire in Mohit? The fire to serve the motherland, the fire of being a best of the best . Hence he assuaged his mother as he was now posted in Chandimandir base, Chandigarh.

Journey as a Para Trooper

As soon as Mohit joined the 1 Para, he was sent to Kashmir again to guard the hot bed of south Kashmir’s Shopian. The place was witnessing the turbulence and continuous rise of militancy and cross border terrorism. At that time this place was used to be the den for Hizbul Mujahideen whose main intention was always to keep the urge of Independence and carry out false flag operations in the valley. Abu Torara and Abu Sabzar were the commander of Hizbul that time who were involved in multiple civilians and security force personnel killings. So it was obvious that they were in the radar of security forces for long, but still out of reach from the hands of security forces.

But as the proverb goes “some day you get the bear, while other day the bear gets you”. Here the months long planning and detailing by many agencies combined resulted in drafting a full proof plan to give a strong joilt to Hizbul in some days down the line. The men planned to carry a covet operation for which a guy who resembles much like the local Kashmiri will infiltrate the Hizbul top ranks and after getting them in his confidence will carry out his operation. So here comes again the man of crude courage who volunteered himself for the operation which could be as risky as getting himself killed, if even a minute negligence happens. But this was also true if they had to finish them some one had to take the risk, and that was Captain Mohit Sharma.

Thus to carry out this operation Mohit took the look of an young Kashmiri guy with a long and bushy beards, hair hanging around his shoulder and wearing a Pheran (Kashmiri outfit) and a Kashmiri name Iftikaar Bhatt. With his planning and details he was able to infiltrate and take into confidence the top heads of the Hizbul Mujahideen. He displayed them the anger against the Indian forces, whom he accused to have killed his brother 3 years back. But what made Abu Sabjar and Abu Torara to believe him was his full proof ground work, survey, exact locations to attack and cause severe casualties of security forces. Thus they three decided a date on which they will carry out the attack on the check point party of security forces.

Major sharma in his Iftikhar’s look

But a day prior to the attack Sabzar got doubtful of Iftikhar and asked him about his details again as he was not agreeing to the fact that how someone could have this level of planning. In response as soon as Iftikhar hear all this he dropped his rifle and shouted like a furious young man, who said shoot me if you don’t trust me. Torara was watching this closely and was amazed that how a silent boy can go so berserk! But before they could have even a thought of anything else, Iftikhar pulled out his 9 mm pistol and fired 4 bullets, distributing 2 each on both the commanders body. They were dead. Sabzar and Torara were dead. The officer from 1 para has achieved his target without a bit of mistake or negligence. Then Mohit waited for the sun to set and as soon as it did, he started his foot journey towards the base of 1 Para where he was known as Mohit Sharma, not Iftikaar Bhatt!

  • Credits:-
  • India most fearless -2 by Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh
  • The liberal hindu youtube channel
  • Honourpoint youtube channel

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Satyam Singh
Satyam Singh
Work for my own. Write for my own . Views are of my own . But heart beats for Tricolor.
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