I met Kargil martyr Capt Haneef Uddin VrC ‘s mother this morning and understood where his courage came from. A classical singer, Mrs Hema Aziz brought up her sons as a single mother after Haneef’s father passed away when he was 8. She refused the petrol pump that was offered to her after Haneef’s martyrdom just as she had told Haneef to refuse a free uniform he was going to get in school because he did not have a father. “Tell your teacher my mother earns enough and can afford my uniform,” she had told him. She said Haneef was a soldier and was doing his duty towards his nation. She would not have expected him to turn back to save his life. Capt Haneef Uddin died from multiple bullet wounds in Turtuk when he was 25. His body could not be retrieved for more than 40 days. When then Army Chief Gen V.P. Malik told his mother that the body could not be retrieved because the enemy was firing constantly, Mrs Hema Aziz told him that she did not want another soldier to risk his life to get her son’s body. #indianarmy #kargil #11rajputanarifles #bravery #valour #family #mother

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