6 JAMMU DAILY SUARGAM TUESDAY | JULY 27, 2021 EDITORIAL KARGIL: A MATTER OF HONOUR MAJOR GAURAV ARYA 7th June, they were subjected Well, it was the late eighties, tion to open war. Musharraf dark and super-high alti- Vijay Diwas (RETD) to horrific torture. Their dead and it was in Pakistan. I don’t did not lose hope. His open- tudes, in temperatures touch- bodies were handed over to know if this story is true, but ing would come when ing minus twenty-five They say it was the the Indian Army. The post- like all stories from Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif appointed him degrees, the Indian Army Nation is today paying tributes to our Bakarwal goat herders who mortem examinations we may never know. The Chief of Army Staff of the officers and soldiers fought first saw Pakistani intruders revealed the extent of the Pakistan Army attacked Pakistan Army. As Army like men possessed. Hungry, soldiers who gave the country victory in on the heights of Kargil. brutality inflicted upon Siachen in waves, in a des- Chief, he had powers that cold, and weary, they did not limited Kargil war and frustrated the Mostly Muslim goatherders, them; eyes removed, lips cut, perate attempt to wrest con- mortals could only dream of. quit; not till the last intruder Bakarwals have, for thou- teeth broken, eardrums trol from the Indians. To this In 1999, Operation Badr was was thrown out of Indian ter- designs of Pakistan two decades back. sands of years roamed the Pir punctured, fractured skulls day, the Pakistanis do not taken out from cold storage ritory on 26th July 1999. And The Kargil warriors deserve all praise Panjal ranges for grazing and amputated limbs and control one square inch of the and Musharraf launched his it all started with a half- ground. It was in the early genitalia. glacier. army into battle. baked Pakistani plan to who took nation to a heroic victory after summer of 1999, when a The enormity of what had After the 1971 war, it was We have all heard stories of somehow cut off NH 1A, to it was back stabbed by Pakistan and its group of them came across happened was telecast live decided between India and the Indian Army’s valour squeeze lines of supply and rulers including then Prime Minister, cigarette packets and wrap- communication to Siachen pers bearing Pakistani Army and maybe internationalise Nawaz Sharif and Army chief, Gen markings. They also saw Kashmir along the way. Parvez Musharaf. The Pak send its Army Mujahedeen, literally mean- Batalik Sector, Tololing, ing Holy Warriors, euphuism Tiger Hill, Jubar Heights, in civil dress to construct bunkers on no for Pakistani terrorists. The Point 4875 and many other Mans' s land in Kargil as well as in Bakarwals reported it imme- points on a “fauji map”, hith- Indian territory. But our valiant soldiers diately to the closest Indian erto unknown, passed on Army formation. into the mists of legend. who showed the door to Pak troops and The Indian Army respond- Nawaz Sharif’s hurried forced them to beat hasty retreat. ed by sending out patrols. All visit to Washington to meet this was happening at the Bill Clinton and beg for inter- Though the Kargil was limited and it backdrop of Atal Bihari vention and his subsequent remained confined to that portion Indo- Vajpayee’s Pakistan visit. ouster at the hands of Vajpayee, that eternal states- General Pervez Musharraf Pak border but Pakistan was given a man, stood at Minar-e- are now documented, dis- serious jolt in the battle field with Indian Pakistan and did what many cussed, and dissected. Kargil brave soldiers who showed the entire Pakistani thinkers believed was a war for India. For that India would never do. In Pakistan, it was much, much world that they will not allow any body many ways, he acknowl- more. It was Pakistan’s to see towards India with a bad eye. The edged the existence of descent into chaos. More Pakistan. While both nations than a decade of martial law Pakistan met a heavy loss in battlefield have traditionally had High followed. Pakistan has never and finding that it was trapped in worst Commissions and mostly full been the same again. As it way in confrontation with India on battle diplomatic relations, stands on the very verge of Pakistanis have always implosion, its descent can be field Pakistan Government pleaded believed that deep down, into Indian drawing rooms. Pakistan that the “winter and courage. Captain Manoj attributed to Kashmir and before various countries to force India on India has never accepted its They say that there is a vacation” of posts would Pandey, Captain Vikram Kargil. existence. national mood for war. The happen in certain areas along Batra, Rifleman Sanjay Today, we celebrate our cease fire which the then Prime Minister Vajpayee reached out to mood in India was fast turn- the Line of Control. The ter- Kumar and Grenadier martyrs. We celebrate those of India Atal Behari Vajpayee disagreed Pakistan, putting his political ing ugly. Most Indians saw rain and the weather were Yogendra Yadav won the who fought the good fight. equity at stake. In a macabre the Pakistani act as not just simply too ferocious and Param Veer Chakra. We lost Above all, we celebrate the and turned down saying India has every twist, Jamaat-e-Islami, a radi- barbaric, but also acutely dis- cruel. Both armies decided 527 brave hearts. To tell you Indian soldier who selflessly right to defend its territory and it will cal Islamist political outfit, honourable. not to subject their men to stories of some and not of the guards our nation in driving stop the war only after last Pak army washed the Minar-e-Pakistan India went to war. such extreme conditions and others would be a disservice snow, burning sand and with rose water; apparently It is important to know the mutually agreed solution to all who fought at Kargil. falling rain. The Indian sol- person is removed from Kargil border. the visit of an infidel had des- why Kargil happened. was that both sides would I have served in high alti- dier is renowned not just for Vajpayee as a true statesman kept his ecrated the monument. Pakistan was never able to vacate their respective posts tude areas and can tell you his fighting prowess and While many contacts reconcile with its dismem- in winters and re-occupy one thing with all certainty; bravery. He has always word and the battle only stopped after between Indian patrols and berment in 1971 and the ter- them in summers. It was all standing for a few minutes at demonstrated honourable Pak troops were forced to vacate the ter- Pakistani held positions had rorism in Kashmir was a going perfectly well, until 16,000 feet above sea level is conduct; in burying the ritory inflicting a humiliating defeat on come to light, the scale and direct result of that. More Pakistan broke faith in 1999. a huge challenge. For a mere enemy dead with full mili- scope of the intrusions were recently, it was the humilia- Again, this begs the ques- mortal like me, it is impossi- tary honours, in treating pris- Pak forces on border field. Entire nation not fully appreciated. It was tion of the Indian takeover of tion, why? It is believed that ble to fathom what feats of oners of war with dignity and today salutes the brave soldiers of India in May 1999, that Captain the Siachen Glacier in 1984. one of the officers responsi- daredevilry were accom- in not initiating acts of Saurabh Kalia led a patrol to There is an unconfirmed ble for Pakistan’s Siachen plished by our soldiers. vengeance against an out- who made the countrymen to keep their Bajrang Post. His patrol was story of the then Pakistani debacle was a certain When people ask me to tell numbered enemy. The Indian head high by not hesitating to lay down fired upon by the Pakistanis. Prime Minister Benazir Brigadier Pervez Musharraf. stories of Kargil, I sometimes Army is not just a powerful feel unworthy. I was not army, it is also a moral army. their lives on battle field. The war memo- The Indian patrol soon ran Bhutto, furiously storming The humiliation must have out of ammunition. They into GHQ, Rawalpindi a few been tremendous. As there. I have been a soldier, This Kargil Vijay Diwas, let rial constructed in their name in Drass were surrounded by the years later. The legend is that Musharraf climbed the ranks but Kargil is beyond my us not simply congratulate area of Kargil will make coming genera- enemy and taken Prisoner of she walked into a General’s of the Pakistan Army, it is imagination. ourselves on a military victo- War. Sepoys Arjun Ram, office and in a scene typical said that he gave at least two At those cruel heights, the ry. Let us remember the sol- tions to realize about the valour and sac- Bhanwar Lal, Bhika Ram, of Bollywood of the eighties, proposals to carry out opera- Pakistanis didn’t need to fire dier. Let us be worthy of his rifices of Indian soldiers and imbibe in Moola Ram and Naresh threw bangles on the tions in the Kargil area. His at us. They would simply roll sacrifice. Let us be Indians, Singh were also taken prison- General’s desk. Grossly proposals were shot down; it down huge boulders and our worth fighting for. them the spirit of patriotism. ers. Between 15th May and patriarchal, you might say.