On October 5, Major J S Suri would have turned 30. He had planned to celebrate his birthday with his wife, S Pallavi, by the picturesque Manasbal lake where his 13 Rashtriya Rifles unit is deployed. Pallavi arrived at the 13 RR regimental centre in Manasbal a few days ago.

On Wednesday, Major Suri was killed in a major encounter with militants in Bandipore in North Kashmir. Pallavi is in shock. They were married only last year.

“She seemed to have guessed last night that something was wrong... confusing reports about Maj. Suri were coming in from the encounter site,” said an Army officer who was part of the 45-hour operation to flush out the militants holed up on an island on Wular lake.

“She is in a state of shock. Officers and jawans of the unit are trying to console her. It was very difficult for senior officers to break the news to her that Maj. Suri had sacrificed his life for the nation.”

Pallavi will return with her husband’s body to his home city Hyderabad tomorrow.

Four Armymen — Maj. Suri and three jawans — were killed after security forces engaged two groups of militants in separate encounters over two days in Bandipore and Rafiabad.

Four militants were killed, including two top commanders — Abu Pasha of the Hizbul Mujahideen and Abu Moosa of the Laskhar-e-Toiba. Both were foreigners active in Bandipore for the last eight years. They were killed in the same encounter in which Maj. Suri died.

... contd.