Bihar governor Phagu Chauhan and his West Bengal counterpart Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday jointly released in Patna a book on the Indian Army’s peacekeeping mission in the jungles of Africa. Authored by Major General Rajpal Punia, general officer commanding of Jharkhand and Bihar Sub Area at Raj Bhavan in Patna, the book, Operation Khukri, is titled after the successful operation in Sierra Leone.
In this operation in July 2000, more than 200 Indian soldiers, who were part of the United Nations peacekeeping force, were surrounded in the forests by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel faction of Sierra Leone. India is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping efforts with 4,238 soldiers and civilian police participating in various UN peacekeeping operations around the world.
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The book recounts the operation, which took place a year after the Kargil war, through the eyes of Punia, an officer of 14 Mechanism Infantry, who was then the commanding officer of the 58th Gorkha Rifles. Punia and his troops not only defeated the RUF rebels in jungle warfare, but broke the siege and 233 Indian soldiers returned home. The book is dedicated to Havildar Krishna Kumar, the only Indian soldier who was martyred in the operation.
In this mission, forces from 17 countries participated of which 16 left. Only Indian forces stayed put against RUF rebels for more than 75 days.
“In the steaming tropical jungle of West Africa, the hostage soldiers were surrounded in their tents. Despite the atmosphere of uncertainty and being cut off from the world, the Indian soldiers kept their spirits up. They did not lay down arms in front of the rebels. The Indian Army decided to carry out Operation Khukri,” said Poonia, who was awarded the Yudh Seva Medal in 2002.
Major General Punia and his daughter Damini are the co-authors of the book.
