The Indian soldier who dies for you

The Asian Age Aug 15th, 2010 - Kamal Davar.
During the 175 years of British rule in India, many pan-India institutions were created by the British to serve their imperial interests in the subcontinent. These included the railways, police, the revenue, postal and telegraph departments, a sound judicial system, roads and bridges linking ports to the hinterland and, above all, the Indian Army, both for enforcing their writ within India and for operations in their overseas territories.
Nearly 1.3 million Indian soldiers served in World War I (1914-1918) and over 2.58 million Indian soldiers fought for the Allies in World War II (1939-1945). During the latter period, under the leadership of the legendary Subhash Chandra Bose, an Indian National Army (INA) comprising deserters from the British Indian Army, was formed to fight the British to hasten the Independence of India. The INA, however, had no impact apart from cautioning the British Raj and re-kindling national awakening among some youth in India. But it is interesting to note that the decline of the British empire commenced with the Independence of India and its forfeiture and subsequent division of the formidable British Indian Army into the Indian and Pakistan armies.
Homogenous units, some of them nearly 150-years-old, were bifurcated with Hindu and Sikh- majority units coming to India and Muslim troops dispatched to Pakistan. Little did these troops, who had lived and fought together for decades, know that Partition of India would soon, and thence frequently, bring to battle old comrades.
British Viceroy Lord Wavell, prior to handing over charge in March 1947, outlined the centrality of the Indian Army to the about-to-be-formed new Indian nation-state in his farewell speech: “I believe that the stability of the Indian Army may perhaps be the deciding factor in the future of India”.
The significance of the Indian Army (used generically to include the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy) and its contribution to the sacred concept of Indian nationhood cannot and must never be diluted. For all Indians, except a few cynics, the Indian armed forces symbolise not just blood and guts, fidelity and honour, but also “Loyalty unto Death” to the nation.
Since Independence, the Indian Army has been involved in four wars against Pakistan and one with China in 1962, apart from other major operations like Operation Cactus Lily in April 1965 against Pakistan, Operation Meghdoot in 1986-88 in aid of Sri Lanka, Operation Prakaram (massive mobilisation against Pakistan after the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001) and various counterinsurgency operations within the country. The 1971 operations against Pakistan, leading to the liberation of Bangladesh, will remain one of the major historic military victories in the annals of warfare.
Apart from active conflicts, the Indian Army has also rendered matchless service in humanitarian activities during various natural calamities in the country, like currently in Leh. Its services in various United Nations peacekeeping missions has won it accolades all across the world.
Immediately after Independence, the existence of the powerful Indian Army was a potent contributor in all but three states joining India of their own accord. The state of Hyderabad, under the rule of the Nizam, refused to join. In September 1948, the government ordered the Indian Army which launched Operation Polo led by Maj. Gen. J.N. Chaudhuri (later to be Army Chief) to secure the state. It took the Army just five days to amalgamate the state to the Indian Union. The tiny state of Junagadh too fell in line. However, the reluctance of Maharaja Hari Singh of the strategic state of Jammu and Kashmir to decide whether to join India or Pakistan led to Pakistan Army regulars and tribals invading parts of Kashmir to annex the state by force. As soon as the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession, Indian troops were airlifted to Srinagar airport. It was at Badgam, a few miles from the Srinagar airport, that the hastily-airlifted Maj. Somnath Sharma of 4 Kumaon became free India’s first Param Vir Chakra winner. The last wireless message of this daring soldier to his brigade commander was “…enemy are only 50 yards from us — we are heavily outnumbered. We are under devastating fire. I shall not withdraw but will fight to the last man and last round”. Three days later the badly mutilated body of this valiant soldier, alongwith bodies of his men, was found. It was identified only because of some pages of the Gita he used to keep in his pocket. The exemplary valour and sacrifice of these soldiers saved the Kashmir Valley from falling into Pakistan’s hands. The Pakistanis known for their unsoldierly traits, in similar fashion during the Kargil War in 1999 in the Ladakh sector, brutally tortured the young Lt. Hanifuddin before killing him. On the other hand, when the Pakistanis refused to take over their own dead soldiers’ bodies, the Indian Army gave them a proper burial with full religious rites.
Can anyone forget the valiant Kumaoni company led by Maj. Shaitan Singh at Rezang La in eastern Ladakh in 1962 fighting against Chinese hordes in far greater numbers — the entire company of over a 100 men fought to the last man. Similar valour was displayed by the resolute Sikh platoon under Subedar Jogindar Singh at Bumla during the same 1962 operations.
There are countless such soldiers in Indian Army’s battle histories. The nation must never forget the supreme sacrifice of thousands of others who have shed their blood for the nation’s integrity. India is powerful and resilient enough not to succumb to pressure from any quarter, for the last bastion of the state is always at the nation’s beck and call and will never be found wanting to confront any challenge to India.
Lt Gen Kamal Davar (Retd) was the founder Director-General of the Defence Intelligence Agency
The Indian soldier who dies for you

CWG: Scams sans sports

The Editor
The Times of India
New Delhi

Sir,
Mr Milkha Singh, the legendary sportsman, has said that because of scams bedevilling the Commonwealth Games it would have been better had the Army handled the mega event (The Times of India, August 8). Whereas the respect and the trust reposed by Mr Singh in the Armed Forces is to be appreciated the fact remains that their prime function is to look after the security of the country and, in exceptional cases, perform any other task for which their help is specially solicited or asked for.

However, there is great scope for gainful utilisation of a large number of Military Veterans who are adept in the areas of their specialisation at various levels of the hierarchy besides being committed and disciplined. Invested with due authority and status they rise to the occasion and acquit themselves as creditably as any others.
Warm regards.
Sincerely,
Wing Commander SC Kapoor (retd)
Member Indian Ex Servicemen Movement Veterans Groups

With reference to the excellent letter to the editor, "The Times of India", written by Wing Commander SC Kapoor (retd), I would like to say:
He has rightly lodged his strong protest with the editor over the publicity given to the victims of atomic "bombs that shook the world," while ignoring any homage whatsoever to the sacrifices of our own Jawans who are killed in action.

I recall my own disgust a long time ago when our political leaders used to "wail and cry" over the partition of Palestine, hailing Yasser Arafat as a great leader and patriot but never ever mentioned the Partition of our own India that suffered huge loss of territory and created TEN TIMES more refugees than the number of Palestinian refugees.

Mr. Yasser Arafat was received and honoured in India as State guest. He used to go back laden with honours and cash awards. Indian news media covered every detail of his trips at full length. I realized then that it was India's official policy to ignore her own Partition but to make big fuss over similar tragedies thousands of miles away from our borders.

It is very bad, indeed, to see that decades on, the same policy of ignoring our own soldiers and their sacrifices by the Indian media continues.
Regards
Rajinder Singh Rajput

Fighting for the nation’s pride

Prime Minister Nehru and Lt Col (later Maj Gen) Rajinder Singh Sparrow take a salute on 7th Nov 1947, during the Kashmir War.
PUNE: Ninety-year-old war hero Lt Col TG Chandwalker (retd) spoke to TOI about how he and his team managed to grab victory for India in some extremely unfavourable conditions during the 1947 war against Pakistan.

Infantry Day itself is celebrated to commemorate the beginning of this war, when Indian troops were hurriedly air dropped into the valley to defend its pride against Pakistani aggression. He led the Bravo Company during a very crucial point.

Explaining the odds against which the Indian Army was fighting, Chandwalker said, “It was right after the partition and the army HQ was still busy dividing equipment between the two nations. The war broke out very suddenly. Just after the agreement of accession was signed on 26 October, 1947, troops were air dropped into the valley. The only aircrafts available were the Dakotas with a capacity to carry 22 men, but due to the looming threat an entire company, ie. about 100 men, had to be accommodated. The officers then were mainly British and had chosen not to enter the war zone. So we were running short of officers, as well as equipment and ammunitions. Most of the troops were in their October clothing and were carrying minimal arms and ammunition. There were no alpine shoes available.”

“Our strategy was simple, but very tough to act upon. We had defined it as ‘one bullet-one kill’, because we could not afford to waste ammunition,” he said. “The Indian armed forces were busy in dealing with internal disputes in India, when the Pakistan army and Tribals in a joint attack tried to capture J&K. I was asked to go and command a very crucial point, Richmar Gali, near Baramulla in the valley.”

Chandwalker, then a major, shouldered the responsibility of commanding the Bravo Company of the 1st Sikh Regiment. Along with his team, he had to play the dual role of attacking the enemy and supporting other companies — specially Alfa — which was placed parallel to Bravo. Managing the two tasks was very difficult for officers and soldiers in Chandwalker’s company, as they themselves had meagre resources to fall back on.

In fact, on a single day in October, 1948, his troops had repelled seven waves of aggression. “We had only one mountain gun allocated for the entire brigade which stopped working due to oil leakage. The Pakis on the other hand had a big gun well camouflaged on the next hill, at a distance of 100-metre. Silencing this gun was very crucial to hold our heights and contain the enemy advance. The air attack by the Indian Air Force turned out to be futile, as the smokecharge fired to locate the enemy gun’s position tumbled down the hill slopes and the air attack could not be directed to the exact location.”

In these circumstances, Chandwalker told havildar Karam Singh and three men to physically inch towards the gun and destroy it. “The brave men crawled towards the gun under heavy crossfire and managed to silence it by hurling grenades from close quarters. One of the grenades was dropped inside the gun barrel and the gun exploded along with the ammunition stored. This wrecked the Pakis’ psyche. This gave us an upper hand. We stopped the enemy’s advance and captured the hill,” he said.

Havildar Karam Singh was recommended by him for the Param Vir Chakra. Chandwalker wrote the citation for this PVC, which, according to him, is first citation of PVC in independent India.

One interesting fact, as narrated by him, was that during the very same battle Chandwalker was pitted against his mother regiment —Baluch Regiment — in which he had been commissioned in the pre-independence era. This news came out of the forward observation/ patrolling party.

“The fact that more than 300 dead bodies were cleared from the scene at the end of the first day, after our troop consolidated their position, is enough to explain how ferociously the battle was fought,” said Chandwalker. The war ended with the cease fire coming into effect on 1st January 1949.
1947 Real Combat: Fighting for the nation’s pride
2008 Fighting the cold: Troops in Siachen issued torn clothing: CAG

A Soldier's Song

Warrior-turned peacemaker General Indar Jit Rikhye passed away in the US on May 21, 2007. As a young boy, he was blessed, and instructed, by Mahatma Gandhi to join the army. Rabindranath Tagore offered him a scholarship to study at Shantiniketan. Zia-ul Haq (who later became one of Pakistan's military rulers) was his junior officer in the pre-independent Indian Army.

Born in July 1920 in Lahore, now a city in Pakistan, Indar Jit Rikhye was the son of a former medical officer in the British Indian Army. After he graduated from the Indian Military Academy in 1939, he was commissioned by King George VI to serve in the 6th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers, also known as the Bengal Lancers.
Later, as a young squadron commander, he led the first armoured elements to roll into the defence of Kashmir from the 'raiders' in 1947. In the 'middle innings' of his career, as he called it, he underwent a transformation from a war-fighter to a peacemaker, serving with the United Nations in Gaza, Congo and in other parts of world. It was during this time that he first began thinking about the futility and then the paradoxical inevitability of war.

This was the general I knew -- full of stories about legendary, near mythical, figure of stature; a man with an old school charm and a peculiar 'Eastern-Western' philosophy. I first met Major General Rikhye when I came to the United States in 2003 to get a graduate education. He was president of the Indian Veterans Organisation, IVOANA, and I was its youngest member- a former Indian army officer with just nine years of service.

In the beginning I was slightly sceptical of the general, a notion that comes easily to most soldiers. Blame it on my perspective, but most of the generals I had met, or served under, were not exactly visionary-leaders, though they were good bureaucratic-managers, receiving and passing on orders. Moreover, I was in my early 30s, and it seemed improbable that I could strike up a friendship with man of my grandfather's generation.

But General Rikhye was a special man, and over the last few years I had the pleasure to meet him a number of times, and to speak with him often. His formative and defining years read like a recounting of the historical events of a bygone era. He served during the Second World War in places that have assumed contemporary significance for altogether different reasons today -- Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, the Italian front. At the time of Partition/Independence, the general was posted in a unit that went to Pakistan, and he witnessed the dismemberment of the British Indian Army. Immediately afterwards, he led the first armoured squadron that was rushed to the defence of Kashmir from Pakistani raiders in 1947. Ironically, these raiders were being given logistical support from the same troops that General Rikhye was commanding as part of the undivided Indian Army.

Major General Indar Jit Rikhye, President of the International Peace Academy. General Rikhye was a former military advisor to UN Secretaries-General Dag Hammarskjöld and U Thant, and Commander of the United Nations Emergency Force in Gaza. As military advisor, he was responsible for operations in the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, West Iran, Yemen, and Cyprus. Special assignments included advisor to the secretary-general during the Cuban Missile Crisis, chief of the UN observer mission to the Dominican Republic, and participant in the Spinelli-Rikhye Mission to Jordan and Israel in 1965. General Rikhye is the author of numerous publications including The Thin Blue Line: International Peacekeeping and its Future.

Tribute by Anit Mukherjee who is a PhD candidate at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC.
Photographs: Courtesy the Rikhye family.
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