She skips meals to send kids to school

She has lost all hope. After several months of running from pillar to post, what she has in hands is not an appointment letter but a huge file containing several typed sheets marked by officials. "A year ago, I could not think of the Army forgetting its martyrs. But today there is no second thoughts about it," says Bina.

The nightmare struck Bina and her children on July 11 last year, when she received the body of her husband, who was killed in Pakistani shelling, while carrying supplies to the soldiers up the hill. She did not know how to take care of herself and two children.

At a function organised to remember Kargil martyrs, Army officers, in the presence of top administrative officers, promised that her son and daughter would be given free education in the nearby Army school.

The State Government went one step further – it announced that she would get a job on compassionate grounds.

"I received the second shock of my life when the Army school authorities categorically denied them admission saying that they have yet to receive any intimation. Even after several months of making rounds of offices, I am yet to find an Army officer, who can give me an authorisation slip," Bina says.

She started working at her neighbours’ houses so that she can earn enough to send her children to a private school. "It was on June 11, at about 4 in the morning that my husband left for Kargil. He made me promise that in case of any eventuality, I will take due care of the children. I am just keeping my word," Bina says. Joining the army was Kamlesh’s childhood dream. He could not, so he tried to make up for it. Satpal, another porter from Rehmbal Udhampur, who was with him in Kargil said how Kamlesh did not listen to them and joined soldiers climbing a steep cliff. "One could see the happiness on his face when for the first time he got a chance to wear an Army uniform. Before leaving he asked twice how he looked in the uniform. As smart as bhaisahib (he called his elder brother, who is also in Army)?" said Satpal.

Another porter who was with him said that Kamlesh would have been alive if he had not carried the body of a jawan lying on the mountain. "Despite heavy shelling he took the body on his shoulders and started climbing down. We told him it would be suicidal. But he insisted that the jawan’s family should get the body before it decomposed," he said. "Even in death he kept his promise. The columns of troops that went to lift his body also brought the body of the jawan he was bringing down," said Sat Pal.