India salutes martyrs through conferring Ashok Chakra

It’s not the time for any standing ovation but to bow heads in respect to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the integrity, solidarity and sovereignty of the nation. India is also doing the same and saluting the gallant sacrifices of as many as 11 personnel, that include people who lost their lives in the Mumbai terror attacks, through conferring Ashoka Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award, on the occasion of Republic Day.

Who are these persons? It has been learnt that the list of awardees include four Mumbai police personnel. They are ATS chief Hemant Karkare; Additional Commissioner of Police, Ashok Kamte; Inspector Vijay Salaskar; and Assistant Sub Inspector Tukaram Umble. Well, there are other awardees as well. They are NSG personnel Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Havildar Gajender Singh who lost their lives during the commando operation in Mumbai.

There is also the inclusion of the name of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma of Delhi Police in the list. He was killed in the Jamia encounter with terrorists in Delhi last year. The others happen to be Col. Jojo Thomas, Havildar B.S. Bohra. Two others like Orissa Special Operations Group Assistant Commandant Pramod Satpathy and Meghalaya's DSP Raymond P Diengdoh along with these nine personnel will be honoured by the President on January 26. It is to be noted, that this is the first time in the history when so many persons will be conferred Ashoka Chakra on a single occasion.

It has also been learnt that some differences also emerged among the decision making committee on the subject of selecting the awardees and the awards to be conferred on them. The recommendation of the Maharashtra government was that that the gallantry award be given to 15 of its personnel for their bravery in dealing with the Mumbai attacks. There was a preliminary suggestion that only a handful of personnel should be bestowed Ashok Chakra while others the Kirti Chakra.

However, this idea was disposed of since the majority of the members termed it as unsatisfactory.