Nawang Kapadia
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Lieutenant Nawang H. Kapadia (15 December, 1975—11 November, 2000), was an Indian Army officer who died fighting Pakistan-based terrorists in the jungles of Rajwar in Kupwara district of Srinagar on 11th November 2000.
His parents are mountaineers Geeta and Harish Kapadia. From his early childhood, Nawang had imbibed the adventurous talents of his parents, both of whom were famous in their own right. Sonam and Nawang were named after Sherpa mountaineers; both are Gurkha names: Nawang means "leader of men." Nawang did his initial schooling at New Era School and subsequently at the St. Xavier’s Boys’ Academy. He studied for and received his B.S. Communications from Jai Hind college in Bombay.
The 24-year old Mumbai-born Kapadia joined the Officers’ Training Academy at Chennai in 1999. He received his commission at the Passing Out Parade on 2nd of September 2000; he received Lieutenant stars on commissioning to the Fourth Battalion, The Third Gurkha Rifles. Kapadia proceeded to the Regimental Centre at Varanasi from which he joined his Battalion on October 29th, 2000. During this period the Battalion was involved in operations against foreign terrorists who had infiltrated and were in the process of establishing their bases in the Kupwara area of Jammu and Kashmir.
On the 10th of November the Battalion received information of a large number of terrorists hiding in the jungles of Rajwar near Kupwara. Search and destroy operations were immediately launched with Nawang leading his own platoon. At approximately 11 a.m., a large hideout was discovered by the Battalion and the platoon came under fire from a group of eight to ten terrorists in the vicinity. Havaldar Chitra Bahadur was mortally wounded and Kapadia rushed to rescue him under the covering fire of his comrades. A terrorist who was hiding in the nearby foliage fired at Kapadia, hitting him in the face and killing him.
The encounter resulted in the deaths of two terrorists of the Al Omar Tanzeem, a Pakistan-based organization, with reports of two others grievously wounded and likely to have died. Large quantities of arms and ammunition were recovered, with the fight itself lasting over 36 hours. Lt. Kapadia's battalion had earlier lost two officers in counter-insurgency operations in 1983-85 and again performed well despite severe casualties in the Batalik Sector of Kargil.
The city of Mumbai awarded a plaque in his honour. He was cremated with military honours on Tuesday, November 14, 2000.
