A mother's grief, a soldier's legacy — remembering Rifleman Sunil Jung

Bina Mahat visited Kargil for the first time in 26 years, returning to the site where her only son, Rifleman Sunil Jung, was killed during the 1999 Kargil War

- SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE

On a windy ridge in Kargil, where the tricolour swirled defiantly against the sky and the bugle's plaintive blasts resonated over the mountains, Bina Mahat stood silently—her eyes welling with tears. For the first time in 26 years, she returned to the very soil where her sole son, Rifleman Sunil Jung, was killed during the 1999 Kargil War. He was only 19.

"He always wanted to wear the olive green," she stated, her voice shaking. "He said to us when he was ten, 'I will be a soldier like my father and grandfather.' He never looked back from that dream."

Rifleman Sunil Jung of the 1st Battalion of the 11 Gorkha Rifles (1/11 GR) was sent to the risky Batalik sector on May 9, 1999. The terrain—all jagged ridgelines and rough rocks—provided no flat terrain for base camps, and the advancing forces had taken up positions along the prominent heights of the Jubar and Kukarthang ridge lines.