The book on Operation Khukri of the Indian Army by Major General Rajpal Punia and his daughter Damini Punia will be released soon.
The operation was carried out in Sierra Leone, West Africa, to free 223 Indian soldiers who had been held hostage for 75 days in the possession of rebel organizations there.
The Operation was a multinational operation with the aim to break the two-month-long siege laid by armed cadres of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) around two companies of the Indian 5/8th Gorkha Rifles Infantry Battalion Group at Kailahun by effecting a fighting breakout and redeploying them with the main battalion at Daru.
Major General Punia is said by Indian media that he has brought to life the indomitable courage and valour of Indian soldiers who have been in extreme conditions on foreign soil for so long.
Major General Punia, who was posted at the sub-area headquarters in Danapur as general officer commanding of Jharkhand and Bihar sub-areas, was then part of the UN Peacekeeping Force.
The Indian Major General explained that “despite being trapped in such difficult circumstances, our soldiers did not compromise with the glory of the country and maintained the value of the tricolour.
The circumstances under which the soldiers lived and what happened to them is nothing short of a nightmare. The story of his valour should reach every countryman.’
