The bravehearts who sacrifice their life for India are once tweeted, forever forgotten! 

My name is Retd. Brigadier CK Sood, proud father of Late Major Anuj Sood, who took bullets for India at the young age of 30. I am writing this petition, not just for my son but every Indian who sacrifices his/her life for the country. Please sign and support my petition.

My son was always meant for great things in life. Who would have thought that the boy who since childhood dreamt of being a Fauji, would ultimately sacrifice his life at the age of 30 years, while fighting terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir, and thus enshrining his name in the history books of India. 

He and 4 other brave soldiers, Col Ashutosh Sharma, Naik Rajesh Kumar, Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar, Sub Inspector Shaqeel Qazi were killed in action in May 2020, in Handwara, J & K, while battling 4 terrorists who had infiltrated our borders, and were holding civilians as hostages. 

The travesty is that when these families were given the message at 0800 hrs on the morning of the 3rd May, this news had been circulating on WhatsApp groups, and in the media much prior. It is heartening to see that India salutes its Corona brave hearts with a majestic flypast from our defence forces, but there's hardly any flypast for martyrs, no flags at half-mast, no national mourning, no telecast to the nation saluting our brave hearts. 

Do you know how the government acknowledged our heroes' sacrifice – They did it with a tweet. A tweet – 140 characters. Mentioning that 5 brave hearts laid down their lives battling terrorists. But did not mention their names. 

In death they received complete ignominy from their supreme leader, while the irony is that they laid down their lives for a cause that these very politicians have propagated and complicated year on year. Our brave hearts are killed in action year on year, and their families are left to pick up the pieces. They are honoured once and then forgotten forever. I want to change that with my petition and I need your support.

A tweet is not enough. Say their names. Acknowledge their sacrifice. Stand in silence and support with their families. Our heroes deserve more!

Let's make a start - Please sign my petition so that the families of the brave soldiers receive a letter from the PMO/President's Office acknowledging their brave sons and husbands' sacrifice.

These families have nothing to hold on to except for the bravery that their sons displayed in the battlefield. And an acknowledgement from the highest office in the country holds tremendous value. This letter/memento should be treated as the highest recognition and the ONLY PROOF that their son/husband gave his life in the nation's service. And they should not be asked for 100s of documents to prove otherwise. Or made to follow up for their dues. Or made to request for acknowledgement.

But this is just a start - the government needs to do more. There needs to be a Standard Protocol to honour our soldiers not just at the time of the sacrifice, but year on year.

We need to garner consolidated national respect and a stronger response from our government when our braves lay down their lives. The national conscience should feel more for our soldiers, shouldn’t it?

I hope with my petition, our government will start taking the necessary steps.

I encourage you to sign my petition and request the government to celebrate and RECOGNISE our heroes and their families in a manner befitting their sacrifice.