Army officer Ummer Fayaz killed in Kashmir: Hundreds gather at India Gate for candle light march

On Saturday evening, hundreds of people gathered at India Gate to hold a candle light march to mourn the death of Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz, according to media reports.

#WATCH Massive crowd turns up to pay tribute to late army officer Lt. Ummer Fayaz at Delhi's India Gate, abducted and killed by terrorists pic.twitter.com/QJWFBZENqj

— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2017

The Times of India  reported that the candle light march began at 7 pm. Lt Gen (Retd) VK Chaturvedi, participating in the march, said that the country had lost a role model, while AAP leader Somnath Bharti also attending the meeting, said that he had come to the march as an ordinary man and that the nation was paying tribute to Fayaz, Times of India reported.

Many army veterans, students and tourists demanded that the death of the young lieutenant to be “avenged”.

“His killing is condemnable. Each and every part of the society should condemn the incident and it should not be accepted at any cost. Stability should return to the Valley. The path Fayaz chose should inspire the people,” former Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said.

The march, that went around the India Gate circle, saw people raising slogans hailing his “sacrifice”.

Cries of ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ rented the air along with others condemning Pakistan and militant groups in the Valley.

Many tourists who flocked the area also spontaneously joined the march.

The alumni association of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, where Fayaz studied before joining the Pune-based National Defence Academy, were among the marchers, along with members of the 124 Infantry Battalion of the Territorial Army.

“If Kashmiris want to go with Pakistan, let them go. I am sure Kashmir will be left with nothing within a few months. And if Pakistan does not abide by the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case then the Indian Army should be given a chance to retaliate,” Captain (retd) Ravi Verma said.

He was referring to the Hague-based ICJ staying the execution of the 46-year-old Indian, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of “spying”.

Lieutenant Fayaz, from the troubled region of Kulgam district, was posted with 2 Rajputana Rifles and had applied for leave to attend a cousin’s wedding.

He was on leave when he was picked up from his house at Harmein in Kulgam, 60 kilometres from Srinagar, on Tuesday. The body of the young officer was later found three kilometres from his house.

Fayaz, who studied at Navodaya Vidyalaya, a branch of government schools for gifted students, at Ashmuquam in south Kashmir, joined the Army after being commissioned in December. He belonged to the 129th batch of cadets from the prestigious Pune-based National Defence Academy.

This was for the first time that he had taken leave after joining the Army, a senior official said. He was supposed to have returned to his unit in the Akhnoor area of Jammu on 25 May.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called Fayaz’s murder “a dastardly act of cowardice” and called Fayaz a role model.

The Indian Army has vowed “to bring the perpetrators of this heinous act of terror to justice”.

With inputs from PTI