Mangaluru, Feb 16: In a proud moment for the people of Dakshina Kannada, a soldier who is a native of the district was among the soldiers feted with Commendation Disc and Certificate for thwarting fidayeen attack at Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp at Srinagar on February 12.

The 28-year-old Zubair, a native of Puttur taluk serves with the 49th battalion of CRPF at Karan Nagar Battalion headquarters.

Speaking to daijiworld over the phone, Zubair said that in the early hours of February 12, they received information that terrorist had attempted to attack on the 23 battalion of CRPF. However, owing to quick retaliation by the security forces, the militants had retreated and fled to a building in the Karan Nagar area.

"We quickly zeroed-in on the location and cornered the 2-militants. In the operation that lasted over 30 hours, both the terrorists were killed. Unfortunately one of our constable Mojahid Khan from Bihar was killed during the counter-terror operation," Zubair said.

While the sentry of the battalion headquarters of Karan Nagar, Raghunath Ghait of CRPF has been hailed hero 'for his exceptional alertness, presence of mind' and has also been recommended for out-of-turn promotion by his superiors, it was this 28-year-old soldier, who first spotted suspicious movement of the terrorist outside the camp parliament and opened fire at them, after which the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operandis aborted their attack plan.

Zubair along with the commandos of Quick Action Teams have been awarded Commendation Disc and Certificate by the director general of CRPF Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar that read 'For displaying thorough professionalism and unparalleled dedication, devotion and valour in eliminating the terrorist during the Karnnagar encounter dated 12/2/2018'.

A native of Haleneranki village in Puttur, Zubair finished his elementary education till 12th at Sri Ramakunjeshwara Educational Institution and completed his bachelor of business management degree in 2011 at St Philomena College. He is serving as a constable for CRPF and was trained at RTC CRPF Latur, Maharashtra. He joined the armed forces in 2013.

"This was my first special operation. Since my childhood I wanted to join the police force, but despite two attempts I was not selected. However, I cleared army selection in the first attempt itself and I am glad to serve the India Army. There are very few soldiers from this region in the armed forced. I hope more join," says the soldier who has been serving in Srinagar for the last two-and-a-half years.

Zubair got married October 2017 and returned to duty immediately after, and is anticipating a visit to his hometown in March this year. The tech-savvy soldier in his social media profile says that since 2015, he has been posted at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital or SMHS Hospital - which is very near to the Karan Nagar battalion headquarter.

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