Naik Jardish Ahmed SC**

Naik Jardish Ahmed hailed from Golpuri village of the Mewat district in Haryana. Son of Shri Attar Khan, he grew up in Golpuri, also referred to as ‘Grenadieron ka Gaon’, as a majority of men of this village have served in or are serving in Grenadiers. Like many young men of his village, he too wanted to serve in the Army and consequently joined the army after completing his initial education. He was recruited into the 22 Grenadiers Battalion of the Grenadiers Regiment, an infantry Regiment known for its brave soldiers with a rich history of various battle honours. After completing his training at the Regimental Centre, he served in various operational areas and soon developed into a tough soldier with commendable field craft skills.

By 1991, he had been promoted to the rank of Lance Naik and during that period his unit, 22 Grenadiers Battalion was deployed in Anantnag district of J&K for counter-insurgency operations. The battalion was actively involved in anti-terrorism campaigns and Lance Naik Jardish Ahmed was part of many raids on terrorist hideouts. He was part of one more such operation on 08 Sep 1991. Based on the information from intelligence sources, about the presence of a group of terrorists, an operation was launched by 22 Grenadiers in Buran Pattan village of Anantnag district. Lance Naik Jardish Ahmed and his comrades soon made contact with the group of six terrorists and cordoned off the area. As the operation was underway, Lance Naik Jardish Ahmed saw one terrorist slipping away through the paddy field. He immediately swung into action and eliminated him with accurate fire. Thereafter, he attacked and killed another terrorist who was ready to fire at his comrades. He then moved to the other flank and saw another terrorist who was taking a position to fire at his company commander. He turned around swiftly and managed to kill the third terrorist too.  In this operation, it was due to the quick action and gallantry of Lance Naik Jardish Ahmed that the lives of his comrades including that of his Company Commander, were saved and three hardcore militants were shot dead. For displaying indomitable courage and camaraderie of the highest order in the face of hardcore militants, Lance Naik Jardish Ahmed was awarded the "Shaurya Chakra".

Anatnag Operation (J&K): 14 Aug 1994

During  August 1994, Nk Jardish Ahmed's unit was deployed in the Anantnag district district of Jammu & Kashmir. The AOR (The Area Of Responsibility) of his unit was infested with militants and the unit had to respond to counter-insurgency operations based on intelligence reports regularly. The unit launched regular patrols to monitor militants' activities in its AOR. On August 14, 1994, Naik Jardish Ahmed was again a member of a cordon and search party tasked with searching Simar village in Anantnag district in the Kashmir valley, where some militants were suspected to be hiding. During the search, a suspicious movement atop a hill feature in the north of the village was noticed. Immediately, two parties crawled upwards under the camouflage of undergrowth. When the parties were 100 yards short of the top, they were detected and fired upon by five militants. Despite a heavy volume of fire, Naik Jardish Ahmed, the second party commander, closed in on a militant, who was covering the escape of the other four, and shot him dead. Other militants lobbed two hand grenades and tried to escape.

Naik Jardish Ahmed rushed forward and crawled as close as 15 yards to the militants, who lobbed two more hand grenades at him and brought down a volley of fire. Even though heavily outnumbered and despite grave danger, Naik Jardish Ahmed crawled closer and injured three militants. The group of hardcore armed terrorists, in their last bid, threw one more hand grenade and together charged at Naik Jardish Ahmed. With lightning speed, Naik Jardish Ahmed, from a lying position, sprayed a volley of bullets and killed all three militants. But in the firefight, Naik Jardish Ahmed too got severely injured. He soon succumbed to his injuries and was martyred. Naik Jardish Ahmed was once again given the gallantry award, “Shaurya Chakra” for his exceptional courage, devotion to duty, and supreme sacrifice. Thus Naik Jardish Ahmed became the first soldier from Haryana to be awarded “Shaurya Chakra” two times. 

The citation for "Shaurya  Chakra" awarded to him in 1994 reads:

On 14 August 1994, during the cordon and search of village Taimer in District Anantnag of Jammu and Kashmir, suspicious movement atop a hill feature to the North of the village was noticed. Two parties were immediately sent which managed to go as close as 100 metres undetected where they were fired upon by a group of five militants. Despite the heavy volume of fire, Naik Jardish Ahmed closed in on the militant who was covering the escape of the other four and shot him dead. The other militants lobbed two hand grenades at the party and tried to escape in different directions.

Naik Jardish Ahmed immediately rushed forward and exhibiting conspicuous gallantry crawled as close as seven meters to the militants who were bringing down Intense effective fire from behind the boulders. The militants lobbed two more grenades at Nalk Jardish Ahmed and brought down a volley of automatic fire. Even though heavily outnumbered and despite such grave danger, the bravo Naik crawled closer and injured three militants. The group of hard-core armed militants in their final bid threw one more grenade and charged in danger. Naik Jardish Ahmed, without losing a moment rolled over to the nearest effective cover, closed in further, and killed all three hardcore Pakistan-trained militants. This gallant act also resulted in the recovery of 4 AK-56 Rifles, 10 magazines, 48 rounds of ammunition, and 2 Hand Grenades.

Naik Jardish Ahmed, Shaurya Chakra, thus, displayed bravery, courage, and devotion to duty in his fight against the militants.