Khatnei Konyak

Biography

Rifleman Khatnei Konyak hailed from Zangkham village in the Mon district of Nagaland. He was drawn towards a career in the Army from his younger days, inspired by his elder brother who had joined the Assam Rifles after completing his education. Following his own passion for service, Khatnei Konyak enlisted in the Assam Rifles—the oldest paramilitary force in India, headquartered at Shillong—and was posted to the 46 Assam Rifles battalion. The unit was engaged in guarding the Indo-Myanmar border and in conducting counter-insurgency operations across the states of the North East. During November 2021, the 46 Assam Rifles battalion was deployed in Manipur for counter-insurgency operations. Militant activity along the border region had intensified during the year, and the Army and paramilitary forces had been conducting coordinated operations along the long, unfenced boundary between Manipur and Myanmar. On 13 November 2021, Rifleman Khatnei Konyak and his comrades, accompanied by their Commanding Officer Colonel Viplav Tripathi, were returning to the battalion headquarters at Khuga after visiting the unit's forward operating base in the Behiang area near the India-Myanmar border. He was part of a quick reaction team moving in a four-vehicle convoy. As the convoy reached Sehkan village in Churachandpur district, militants of the PLA and the MNPF launched a pre-planned ambush at around 1030 hours, first detonating an IED and then opening indiscriminate fire from vantage points in the surrounding forest. The attack was sudden and devastating. Colonel Viplav Tripathi, Rifleman Khatnei Konyak and three other soldiers—Rifleman Suman Swargiari, Rifleman RP Meena and Rifleman Shyamal Das—lost their lives. A brave and motivated soldier, Rifleman Khatnei Konyak laid down his life in the line of duty.