Doda terror attack: ‘Not everyone lucky enough to serve nation’, say soldiers’ families

Like his father Nar Bahadur Thapa before him, colonel Bhuwanesh Thapa served in the Indian Army for 34 years, retiring in 2014. Five years later, his son, Brijesh Thapa continued the family tradition — clearing the Combined Defence Services examination and joining the army.

His overwhelming emotion at the time was pride. But at 10:30pm on Monday, that pride was tinged with some grief, when he received the devastating phone call that his son was one of the four army personnel who were killed in an exchange of fire with terrorists in Jammu’s Doda.

Originally a resident of Bada Ging near Lebong in Darjeeling, Captain Thapa, who studied BTech as a student, joined the army in 2019 after clearing the Combined Defence Services examination.

At his home in Siliguri, Bhuwanesh Thapa said: “I feel proud that our son has done something for the nation. But we will be miss him for the rest of our lives.”

His mother Nilima Thapa said the family had last spoken to their son on Sunday, when he said the front where he was posted was remote, and could only be reached on foot. “Brijesh was supposed to come home shortly but as the situation on the front was not good, nothing was confirmed,” she said.

Captain Thapa’s remains are expected to arrive at Bagdogra airport on Wednesday, and his funeral will be held at Bada Ging.

There was a similar pall of gloom in two villages in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu, which mourned the death of 24-year-old Ajay Singh and 26-year-old Bijendra Singh.

Ajay’s family, from Bhesawat, was informed of his death on Tuesday morning, with his remains scheduled to arrive at his village on Wednesday. Like Thapa, Ajay’s father Kamal Singh was also in the army and retired in 2015, with his uncle Kamal Naruka currently serving in the 23 Rajput regiment in Sikkim.

Ravindra, Ajay’s younger brother, said: “Many in our family have served in the armed forces. We woke up as usual in the morning, but suddenly found out that Ajay was killed in an encounter with terrorists. The entire village is in mourning. Not everyone has the fortune to serve the nation and sacrifice themselves in service to the nation.”

Dumoli Kalan Ki Dhandi, a village in Jhunjhunu, was also in mourning, after news of the death of Bijendra Singh petered in. Singh had joined the army in 2018, and has two sons. He last visited the village in February, and the news was first broken to Dashrath Singh, Bijendra’s brother, who is also in the army and is posted in Lucknow.

Ramji Lal, Bijendra Singh’s father, said: “Both my sons are in the army to serve the nation. I am proud of my son but urge the government to end terrorism. To lose my son is the biggest loss for my family.”

The fourth soldier killed in the encounter on Monday night was Dokkari Rajesh from Chetlatandra village in Srikakulam’s Santhabommali mandal in Andhra Pradesh.

According to a villager, Rajesh belongs to a family of shepherds. “The family struggled a lot to provide education to Rajesh and his younger brother. He joined the army six years ago. He used to use a part of his salary to clear the fees of poor students in his village,” the villager said.