Source: National Rifle Association of India

India is part of a world which is most prone to terror attacks than any other part of the world yet it has been immune to cross border attacks and the resulting casualties thanks to the immune system of our country ie The Army, the Border Security Force, the Defense Security corps among many others. At Pathankot Airbase yesterday, it were these brave soldiers who lost their lives ensured the continuance of our normal lives. The attack was the culmination of a series of dramatic events which began on December 30-31 night, when the terrorists are suspected to have sneaked into India from Pakistan. Sometime around early Friday morning they had intercepted a Superintendent of Police, Salwinder Singh, and two other men near Dinanagar. Valuable time was lost when the SPs claim of being intercepted by terrorists.  The terrorists allegedly had used a phone snatched from the captives to make repeated calls to Pakistan which was picked up by intelligence agencies  and thereby confirming the presence of terrorists in the area. What ensued was a operation which ended up neutralizing all the terrorists and 6 of our brave soldiers including Capt Fateh Singh.  

Among the soldiers who lost their lives included a Defence Security Corps (DSC) personnel, Hony Capt Fateh Singh of Gurdaspur’s Jhanda Gujjaran village who bravely took on  and checked the progress of terrorists who had sneaked into the air base. He was a gold and silver medal winner at the Common Wealth Shooting championship Games held at Delhi in 1995.  A “legendary big bore shooter” was what the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said of him while mourning the death of “son and brave heart”. He was posted in Pathankot about two years ago. He had won gold in the Big Bore Rifle Three Position and silver in Big Bore Rifle Prone Postion at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in 1995. Capt Fateh singh was one of the first big bore rifle international shooting medallists of our country and during his celebrated career he had guided and inspired many shooters among many others to fight serve and defend the country.

TLI salutes Capt Fateh Singh and the other personnel who had laid down their lives while defending the lives of more than a billion Indians. Our most sincere condolences reach out to the family members of the personnel who had lost their lives. Many people are great for the way they lived, some are great for the way they lived and the way they died, Capt Fateh Singh is one of the latter.