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| India-Pakistan |
| A tale of two unarmed heroes |
| 2008-12-13 |
| Armed with nothing but presence of mind and courage, two persons tackled terrorists at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on November 26. The railway announcer at the station, Vishnu Dattaram Zinde, and head constable of the Railway Protection Force Jillu Yadav, who were honoured by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, were instrumental in preventing further casualties in the attack. As usual, Mr. Zinde had finished his dinner and returned to his seat to continue with his announcements about train arrivals and departures. He then heard an explosion and what he saw from his room shocked him. A stream of injured passengers draped in blood and a host of others rescuing the injured spun Mr. Zinde into action. Realising that it was a grenade blast, Mr. Zinde switched off the computer announcement system and assumed the mantle himself, which they do in emergency situations. What he did from then on earned him the gratitude of the nation. Perched at an advantageous position, Mr. Zinde comprehended the situation and repeatedly directed personnel of the RPF and the GRP (Government Railway Police) to rush towards the mainline sensing trouble from that end. With reports of gunshots, an alert Mr. Zinde turned his attention to those passengers disembarking from the suburban trains. He directed them to either stay put in the trains or exit through the side gate and not head to the main gate. That he did without telling them of the presence of the terrorists so as not to create any panic. “At times, I had to single out frightened passengers heading for the main gate by calling them out by the colour of their shirts and warning them.” He did attract the two terrorists’ attention who were just about 20 paces away standing right in front of him. They fired at his cabin, but without apparently being sure of anyone’s presence. Mr. Zinde’s two other colleagues, G.S. Tiwari and Sekhar Peshwi, switched off the lights and pasted papers on the glass panes. They had ducked to evade being sighted but carried on with their work. Mr. Yadav entered the scene thanks to Mr. Zinde’s directions. On that day he had not been issued a weapon. That did not deter his zealousness and commitment. He sighted the two terrorists and asked a GRP constable armed with a .303 rifle to fire at them. He was standing there and declined to use his weapon. “What are you looking at? You won’t get an opportunity like this to excel in your duty. Stand up and deliver,” exhorted Mr. Yadav without much success. Mr. Yadav rushed to his side, grabbed the rifle and fired at the terrorists. A volley of shots breezed past him. He grabbed the GRP man and pulled him behind a wall for cover. That one shot, however, created panic in the terrorists and they rushed out of the station. It prevented the killing of more people. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #1 There are ever sheep and wolves. Sometimes there are sheepdogs. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-12-13 18:16 |