NEW DELHI: At a time when his state Haryana and his hometown Jind were ablaze with rioting and caste wars over quota, Captain Pawan Kumar was leading his troops from the front in a fierce gun-battle with heavily-armed terrorists far away at Pampore in Jammu & Kashmir.Pawan, barely 23, was considered an intrepid officer who never shied away from life-endangering risky missions. Commissioned into the Dogra Regiment in December 2013, he had enthusiastically volunteered to join the elite, much-decorated 10 Para-Special Forces in June 2015.In his last Facebook post, Pawan said, "Kisiko reservation chahiye to kisiki ko azadi, Bhai. Humein kutch nahin chahiye bhai, Bas apni razai… (Some want reservation and some want independence. I do not want anything, except my blanket).”Himself a Jat, Pawan also had a graduation degree from JNU, as all military officers who graduate from the tri-service National Defence Academy (NDA) have under a special arrangement.In the thick of relentless counter-insurgency operations in J&K since September last year, Pawan had recently taken part in two successful missions in which three terrorists were killed. The officer, in fact, was himself injured in one of the encounters at Pulwama but refused to go on sick leave.Since Saturday, Pawan was once again in the forefront of the operation against the terrorists holed up in a government building at Pampore town, who had earlier ambushed a CRPF convoy. Unfortunately, it would prove to be the last operation for him.“I got the telephone call about Pawan’s martyrdom at 7am on Sunday. I had one child. I gave him to the Army and to the nation, even though nobody in my family had served in the armed forces earlier. No father can be prouder,” said Pawan’s father Rajbir Singh, a school headmaster based in Jind, speaking to TOI.Probably, it was destined that Pawan would join the olive-green force, born as he was on Army Day (January 15) in 1993. “He had also got admission in BSC (H) Maths in Ramjas College of Delhi University after his class XII. But he opted to join the National Defence Academy. Today, his 10 Para-SF commanding officer Colonel Salaria is here,” added his father.Said a senior Army officer, “Pawan was a very brave officer, a true commando. Despite barely three years in service, he had maturity beyond his years. He was killed leading his men. The operation was tricky as possibility of some civilians being trapped in the building was not ruled out.”The Army appealed to the people of Haryana to “extend their full support in giving a befitting farewell to this brave son of the soil”, which is slated at Jind on Monday.