Aejaz Ansari, a soldier, who was killed in Jammu and Kashmir
Mateen Hafeez | TNN
Mumbai: Bureaucrats are making a 60-year-old retired army man run from pillar to post for a gas agency connection. His son, also an army man, was killed in an explosion in Jammu & Kashmir in 2005.Shah Alam Ansari, a retired military man, who joined the Indian Army in 1968, hails from Uttar Pradesh and is in Mumbai to meet Petroleum and Natural Gas minister, Murli Deora.
Ansari’s son, Aejaz, also joined the army as a survey field jawan in 1997 and was part of Operation Rakhshak during and post-Kargil war. Aejaz was later posted in Pune and again in Kashmir in 2004. “On August 12, 2005, I received information about my son’s death in an explosion at Sachho Post Chorbatla sub-sector on the Line of Control in J&K. It was the most difficult time when I saw the body of my young son, who was scheduled to get married a month earlier,’’ said Ansari.
Aejaz’s body reached his home town in Uttar Pradesh on August 15, 2005. Ansari, along with other Indian army men had served in Bhutan for training the latter’s military in mid-70s.
After Aejaz’s death, the then defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee, and a batallion of defence personnel wrote condolence letters to Ansari. “Aejaz was my eldest son and wanted to serve the nation for the rest of his life. I had spoken to him a few days before his death. He was very excited to return for his wedding,’’ added Ansari, who himself was posted thrice in Jammu & Kashmir. Ansari was also part of bunker task formation near the China border in 1984 and was conferred several certificates for having a good service record.
He stated that even the President’s secretariat, in a letter, suggested him to submit his documents to procure a gas agency. “I completed all the documents and submitted them. However, now the babus are delaying allotting me a gas agency. They keep showing me the rule book. They say that I am over 60 and the agency can only be allotted to someone who is under 45. I also requested them to allot it under my second son’s name. He is doing his graduation in science. But they are just not ready to listen to me. They are making me run from one office to another. Is this the way to treat a shaheed’s family?’’ Ansari said. He has two sons and three daughters, all studying.
Ansari met Deora last year in Mumbai to get his work done. “Deora said it was unfortunate that it was taking a long time but assured help,’’ said Ansari. When contacted, Deora said he was in Cambodia.
The Times of India, July 21, 2010
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