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Slain peacekeeper's remains returned to Himachal

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

The mortal remains of Havildar Krishan Kumar Kant, who was killed in Sierra Leone while participating in a United Nations operation, arrived in India on Sunday night.

Minister of State for Defence Hiren Pathak, Chief of Army Staff General Ved Prakash Malik, and other senior army commanders paid tribute to Havildar Kant at a ceremony in Delhi Cantonment on Monday morning.

Thereafter, the body of the soldier, who was killed in an operation following the release of 223 Indian soldiers from rebel custody on July 15-16, was flown to Himachal Pradesh, where it will be created in his native village, Hamirpur.

The Last Post was sounded for Havildar Kant in the presence of a large number of his colleagues and several senior Army officers at the Delhi Cantonment.

Havildar Kant sustained a splinter injury on July 16 at Kuiva, a few kilometres from Daru, in the eastern part of Sierra Leone, where the captive 223 Indian soldiers had just been released. He was among the Indian soldiers who had gone to Kailahun to facilitate the return of the soldiers.

In a surprise, surgical strike against the Revolutionary United Front, the UN peacekeepers, under the direct supervision of their force commander, Major General Vijay Kumar Jetley, had rescued all 223 Indian soldiers and 11 military observers on July 15.

Two parties of Indian peacekeepers, one from Pendembu and the other from Daru, were asked to move to Kailahun to evacuate the freed soldiers.

Havildar Kant was part of the group that began moving from Daru to Kailahun on July 16. When the convoy was moving ahead, RUF rebels ambushed them. Kant was hit in the abdomen by shrapnel, which also propelled three bullets from his belt into his stomach.

"He was immediately evacuated to Daru and operation carried out. But the bullets could not be removed there, so he was airlifted to Freetown," a senior army officer said. Havildar Kant died on the way to Freetown on July 17.

His body arrived in India after a few days' delay. An officer said it took some time to embalm the body. Later it was airlifted to Paris. "There too there was a day's delay," he pointed out.

According to sources, Havildar Kant's family will be paid a consolidated amount of $50,000 as compensation by the United Nations. Besides, Army Headquarters and the Himachal Pradesh government will treat him as a "battle casualty", sources said. One of his close relatives will also get a job with the state government.

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