'Watershed moment in the Valley'

The slain Kashmir-born Army officer, Lt Ummer Fayaz, was due to begin the Young Officers’ Course in September 2017 for his elevation as a platoon leader and later as a company commander.

Commissioned in the Indian Army in December 2016, Lt Fayaz was abducted and killed by militants on Tuesday night when he visited his uncle unarmed, at Batapura (near Behibagh) in Shopian, to attend his cousin's wedding ceremony.

He was chosen for the Young Officer’s Course that prepares a new recruit to take on the job of a field commander. The six-month-long course is held at the Infantry School, Mhow and Commando School, Belagavi. Lt Fayaz, who would have turned 23 on June 8, was to go to Mhow.

The young officer, whose father is a small time apple farmer in Jammu and Kashmir, was remembered as an excellent volleyball player and a member of the NDA hockey team. “He was an honest officer, physically tough, full of josh (energy) and troops enjoyed being with him,” said an officer. He was serving in the 2 Rajputana Rifles on his first posting.

‘Will turn the tide’

“This marks a watershed moment in Kashmir Valley and people of Kashmir will decisively turn the tide against terrorism. I assure the family that perpetrators of this heinous crime and dastardly act will not be spared,” Lt Gen Abhay Krishna, commanding-in-chief of South Western Command and Colonel of the Rajputana Rifles wrote in his condolence message.

Since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani in July 2016, Jammu and Kashmir has been on the boil. Violent clashes with security forces and stone-pelting have become commonplace and elections were virtually boycotted by the people. The army has sent an additional battalion (1,000 troops) to Kashmir to strengthen the security grid.

Shopian district, where the incident took place, witnessed a dawn-to-dusk cordon and search operation last week involving 4,000 army troops and eight companies of CRPF, in addition to five platoons of Jammu and Kashmir and women police teams.

The purpose of the cordon and search operation, army sources said, was area domination following a spate of bank robberies and attacks on security personnel in the recent past.

This was not the first time for an armed forces officer to be killed by militants in J&K. In the 1990s, a young Indian Air Force officer, Sq Leader R K Khanna, was shot dead by militants at close quarters.