Author: Samudra Gupta Kashyap,
Kohima
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 26, 2002
Introduction: I feel Kargil was
incomplete. We shouldn't give Pak the benefit of time
Everytime he sees an army vehicle,
Neiselie Kengeruste remembers the day a similar looking vehicle brought
home the body of his son, Captain Neikezhakuo Kengerutse, wrapped in the
tricolour, about three years back.
But he has no regrets. "I often
wish I was in my 20s and a soldier. I want to go where my son made the
ultimate sacrifice and carry on his work. I also want to go to Kargil one
day and see the spot and touch the soil where his blood fell," says the
56-year-old health assistant.
"War is a bad thing ... I have lost
my young son at Kargil. Hundreds of people like me have also lost their
sons. Yet, another war is inevitable. When I look back at Kargil, I feel
it was incomplete," he says.
Father of 11 children, of whom Neikezhakuo
was the eldest, this Naga wants the government to ensure that "we should
not just win the war but also ensure that in the future no more wars take
place on the Western front."
Echoing her husband, Dinuo, says:
"I feel a war should not take place but I see on television that Pakistan
is adamant. That country is not responding to peaceful efforts. Thus we
should prepare well and fight."
Their fourth son, Keneitsilie, a
second-year BA student, adds: "We should not give Pakistan the benefit
of time. We should strike immediately. It has already been identified as
a terrorist country. Pakistan has to be crushed." Considered closest to
Neikezhakuo, he reveals that "sometimes, something inside me tells me to
join the army and fight like my brother."
