Vir Chakra (VrC)

On 20 February 1994, Captain Sunil Khokhar volunteered to man the Pahalawan Observation Post located at a height of 19,856 feet in Jammu & Kashmir and sought permission to remain on the post beyond his scheduled tenure of45 days. In the early hours of 5 May 1994, the enemy launched a probing action with definite planned attempt to capture the strategic post. This resulted in a heavy exchange of fire. After blunting the enemy attempts, a patrol was launched and at about 2100 hours the patrol party was able to locate the enemy camp site. On 7 May 1994 Captain Sunil Khokhar was detailed to accompany the patrol. At his own initiative, he planned to carry out the silent registration of targets for directing the artillery fire on the enemy camp site. While carrying out his task, he came under enemy small arms fire but with utter regard to his personal safety this courageous officer continued registering the targets till the time he was hit by an enemy bullet that fatally wounded him.