Bravehearts’ saga a forgotten chapter

Today as I am writing this article, my thoughts travel back in time to my days in Kashmir when I served in various locations like Doda, Kishtwar and Kargil. As I remember the hills of Kargil, a saga of valour and bravery unfolds and my mind goes back to May 1999, the news of intrusions in the Kargil sector and later facing the fact that it was not merely terrorist intrusion but Pakistan’s regular soldiers occupying some of our posts.

It was a sudden jolt for the Indian army and security agencies. Then started the mass mobilisation of the army. Approximately 2 lakh soldiers were mobilized. However, as the war was confined to an approximate stretch of 170 km (Kargil, Mushkov Valley & Batalik sector), only 30,000 troops got involved in the war, which gave new experiences as it was fought on a high altitude area. This made fighting very difficult as the mountains have no trees or cover. The Pakistanis sitting on well dug concrete defences in the ground had tremendous advantage but the Indian army took the challenge and against all odds overthrew this intrusion by the second week of July. The price of victory was high as 527 soldiers laid down their lives for the nation. But that is not what makes me sad. It is the fact that 18 years after the war, the lessons have still not been learnt, be it intelligence failure or response to terrorism or welfare of soldiers.

As I head the Ex-servicemen’s Federation of UP, I have been raising various issues with state and central governments but the response is not what should have been to a soldier. Will the untold stories and unsung heroes ever come out of the closet? Even the various acts of bravery, courage and sacrifice have faded with the passage of time. During my visit to Kohima war cemetery, I saw these lines engraved on the grave of a soldier: ‘When you go home, tell them about us, for your tomorrow we gave our today.’ Meaningful lines which aptly describe those who went to war but never returned.