Pawan Kumar Singh

Biography

Rifleman Pawan Kumar Singh hailed from Khanak village in the Hiranagar tehsil of Kathua district in Jammu & Kashmir and was born in 1978. The son of Shri Baldev Singh and the late Smt Attar Devi, he had a younger brother. After completing his school education, he joined the Assam Rifles and was recruited into the 29 Assam Rifles Battalion, part of India's oldest paramilitary force, headquartered at Shillong. During 2016, his battalion was deployed in Manipur for counter-insurgency operations. Following heightened militant activity in the border region, the long un-fenced border between Manipur and Myanmar had been sealed and the Army and paramilitary forces had launched a sustained counter-offensive that continued into 2016. Since the battalion's area of responsibility was affected by militant activity, the troops remained on constant guard, and Rifleman Pawan Kumar took part in many operations against insurgents. On 22 May 2016, as part of the Commandant's Quick Reaction Team, Rifleman Pawan Kumar was tasked to assess a landslide area within the unit's area of responsibility in Chandel district, where cadres of NSCN(K), the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup and the Kanglapak Communist Party were active. While returning after assessing the site, the QRT's three-vehicle convoy was ambushed in a pre-planned attack near the Shiv Mandir area, about 15 km from the Myanmar border, at around 1140 hours. The militants directed their fire at the leading vehicle carrying Rifleman Pawan Kumar and five other soldiers. The men swung into action and retaliated, forcing the attackers to flee, but in the fierce exchange of fire Rifleman Pawan Kumar and five comrades were grievously wounded and succumbed to their injuries. He was 38 years old and laid down his life in the service of the nation.