There is a busy bridge in Pune called
Mhatre Bridge or Mhatre Pul joining Sarasbaug to Deccan area. Everyday, it is
traversed by thousands of people, but few know or care that the bridge is named
after an unsung Indian hero, Shri Ravindra Hareshwar Mhatre.
Ravindra Mhatre was brutally killed
by Kashmiri terrorists at the age of 48 while he was serving as a diplomat in
the Indian Embassy in Birmingham UK. He was abducted and killed in an attempt
to negotiate release of terrorist Maqbool Bhat of the Jammu & Kashmir
Liberation Front (JKLF).
Yes, the same #MaqboolBhat, in whose
name separatist slogans were raised in JNU.
Mhatre was kidnapped as he was
stepping out of a baker's shop after picking up a birthday cake for his
daughter. Mhatre's daughter was only 14 when he disappeared forever from her
life. Her father's body was found three days later on a side-street in
Birmingham.
The then PM Indira Gandhi had refused
to negotiate with the terrorists and Maqbool Bhat was hanged to death days
after Mhatre's body was found.
In an emotional story, Mhatre's
daughter talks about how her father's murder changed her life forever.
The Kashmiri terrorists haven't
forgotten Maqbul Bhat, but perhaps we Indians have forgotten Ravindra Mhatre.
[Taken from writeup by Devarshi Sarkar]
[Taken from writeup by Devarshi Sarkar]
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