‘Tum Sala Pin Nikalega’: The murdered BSF Braveheart had once saved dozens of colleagues

BSF Chief Lal Fam Kima was killed by unprovoked Pakistani sniper fire along the international border in Jammu on Thursday.

New Delhi/Jammu: “Tum sala pin nikalega,” a brave BSF soldier shouted as he emptied his light machine gun (LMG) and shot a terrorist while trying to pull the pin from a hand grenade and threw it at the security forces.

Border Security Force (BSF) Chief Lal Fam Kima, who laid down his life in the service of the nation on Thursday when he was shot and killed by unprovoked Pakistani sniper fire along the international border in Jammu, had once saved the lives of dozens of his colleagues when he shot dead a trapped terrorist during a counter-terrorism operation along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Tum sala pin nikalega,” Kima had shouted before emptying his light machine gun (LMG) to kill a terrorist who had holed up in a ‘dhoke’ (mud house) during an operation in the winter of 1998-99. in the village of Gool.

The village is located in the upper reaches of the Pir Panjal range along the India-Pakistan Line of Control (LoC).

Recalling the operation, Kima’s then Commanding Officer (CO), in an emotional and endearing post, recalled Kima’s bravery and courage during dozens of similar operations during his time in service. The heartbreaking message was shared with several BSF officials via social media platforms.

Kima, 50, was killed in the line of duty on Thursday after a Pakistani sniper bullet struck him from across the border in Jammu’s Ramgarh sector along the India-Pakistan international border.

The senior constable, a resident of Aizawl, joined the Border Force in 1996 and was currently posted with the 148th BSF Battalion to guard the IB.

At the memorial post for the brave soldier, Kima’s former commander said when he heard about the death in the morning, his “heart was at war with his mind,” fearing that it was his old colleague who died in an unprovoked fire incident.

In the post, the former commander said he had “all these years cited Kima’s conspicuous act of courage and alertness towards young officers and troops” during the approximately 25-year-old LoC operation.

The post, accessed by news agency PTI, stated that the terrorists had locked themselves in a ‘dhoke’ and that after a gunfight and grenades, the militants had blown themselves up to carry out a ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) attack , so the surrounding BSF party is also killed.

As smoke continued to pour from the ‘dhoke’, the BSF team rushed into the smoldering remains of the mud hut and found three dead terrorists.

“Suddenly there was a loud scream. TUM SALA PIN NIKALEGA??!!!! Followed by a burst of LMG, sending everyone running for cover,” the message said.

“This was Lal Fam Kima (he was a constable then), who had seen the almost dead terrorist (taken for dead by BSF) removing the pin from the grenade even as he breathed his last,” he said.

“While the rest of the party was busy searching and recovering war supplies, it was the ever-alert Kima who noticed the stealthy movement of dying terrorists trying to blow off the grenade,” the former commander wrote.

If the terrorist had been successful, he added, we would certainly have suffered dozens of casualties and the successful and clean operation would have turned sour.

“Today Lal Fam Kima attained martyrdom. He was fearless then when he was a young constable with two to three years of service and fearless now as a chief constable.

“This simple, humble and modest warrior lived courageously and laid down his life courageously,” he wrote in the post shared with several BSF personnel and officers.

A wreath was laid at Kima’s remains in Jammu before his body was sent to his home state Mizoram. He is survived by his mother, wife, two daughters and a son.

(With PTI inputs)