By: Ravi Nitesh
India and Pakistan have always been in rivalry with each other and public at large in both countries sometimes adopt jingoism and war-mongering, fell in hyper nationalism and start hatred with each other, particularly from each other's state and army. However, we must understand that army, irrespective of which side it belong. made of people, human being like us, who have same hearts, emotions, values and expressions; but they are bounded with their duty and many a times, unable to reflect upon their individual emotions.
As an institution, armies, everywhere in the world without exception to Indian and Pakistani armies; have many feathers in their cap along with many spots too. But what people should learn from them is their dedication to their duty and also that their confrontation against other side is part of their professional actions. At a personal level, there are many stories that tell about them, their humanity, their respect for each other and each other's bravery. They remain enemy till they remain on ground confronting each other, while off the ground and in peace time, they look each other as equal human being, not as enemy. Among many such stories, one is here:
This is a story from Kargil time (Year 1999),
when 192 Mountain Brigade of Indian Army was on front lines and the war was at
its full-fledged. Brigadier M S Bajwa, who was the brigade commander of 192
Mountain Brigade, asked 18 Grenadiers and 8 Sikh regiments to start preparation
capturing Tiger Hill. Tiger hill was important because Srinagar-Leh highway was
on its direct monitoring and intense and direct fire were received at highway
from posts there.
After a planned approach towards Tiger Hill, Captain
Balwan Singh of 18 Grenadiers captured the hill and reached on top but battle
was on. A counter attack was very much possible and all soldiers were stayed
prepared at different locations. Next morning, counter attack started which was
confronted and overpowered by Sikh regiment, however after sometime, a fierce
attack by Pakistani Army Officers started and it became a tough, heavy exchange
of fire. Observing the situation, Brig. Bajwa, who was main command of
operation, spoke to forward most soldier and got to know that Pakistani army
captain Khan was leading the attack and till then many soldiers have been
injured and few died. Sepoy Satpal Singh, as per order of Brig. Bajwa, finally
killed three Pakistani soldiers and shot Captain Khan with few yards distance.
Brig Bajwa arranged to bring down body of
Captain Khan through porters. He was aware that Captain Khan fought very
bravely.
After bringing down his body from hill, during
search, they found letter in Urdu written by Captain Khan’s sister*. Brig Bajwa
informed his General Officer Commanding about everything and also about bravery
of Captain Khan. He also expressed his desire that bravery of Captain Khan
should receive recognition and thus sought permission from his GCO which he
approved.
Before dispatching body of Captain Khan to
Delhi, Brig Bajwa placed a hand written letter in Captain Khan’s pocket,
writing ‘Citation that Captain Karnal Sher Khan of 12, Northern Light Infantry
of Pakistan fought very bravely’.
Captain Khan was awarded Pakistan’s highest
military gallantry award ‘Nishan-e-Haider’ by Pakistan posthumously. His
hometown Naway Kallay was renamed as Karnal Sher Khan Kallay.
Captain Khan’s Father later sent a Thank you
note to Indian Army.
Ref:
Pic Source:
https://bit.ly/2ZEKvCj
*In few news reports, it is reported as letter was written by sister,
while in few, it was said that letter was written by wife.
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