Unfortunately, a row is sparked on the use of word shaheed/martyr for those who have laid their lives in defending the country against the onslaughts of our enemies. A demand has come from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Assam Rifles (AR) that their personnel killed in fighting against the enemy should be addressed as shaheed/martyr. But the babus at the Defence Ministry have found fault with this demand arguing that the word shaheed/martyr is not defined in the defence rule books, and as such the title cannot be formally accepted for use by the families of the martyrs. It further states that under the Liberalised Pensionary award rules and lump sum ex-gratia family pension compensation of Rs 15 lakh as per rules in addition to other benefits admissible are given to those who lay down their lives while defending the country. This was conveyed to the Parliament in a written statement by the Government.
Word shaheed is originally from Arabic. But it has become part of the vocabulary of Hindustani. We have accepted hundreds of foreign words, especially of
Arabic and Farsi origin, and these have become familiar with us and we use them so frequently. As such, there should be no difficulty in accepting word shaheed for martyr by our Defence and Home Ministries. We have already given the sobriquet to Shaheed Bhagat Singh. As such, there should be no difficulty with the Defence Ministry in adopting the word in its proper definition and allowing the families and kith and kin or friends of a valiant soldier fallen in the battle to use the honorific before the name of the martyr.
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