Captain Pawan Kumar was 23 years old when he died. An officer in the Indian Army, Kumar died fighting terrorists in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir. He is both Jat and a JNU graduate, but the debates around issues like Jat reservation and the incidents in JNU were far from his mind.
His demands were different. Fighting in the bitter cold in Jammu and Kashmir, the 23-year-old captain wanted neither reservation nor independence. He only wanted his blanket.
Six soldiers were martyred and 13 other security men have so far been injured in the gunfight that started on Saturday when guerrillas attacked a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway at Sempora in the district.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)