Even the enemy knew our heroes
One of the most decorated and charismatic war-heroes of the Kargil war was Capt. Vikram Batra who posthumously received the Param Vir Chakra-the nation's highest military gallantry award. Along with his fellow officers and soldiers of the 13, Jammu and Kashmir Rifles (JAKRIF), Capt. Batra stormed Point 5140 after a bloody
battle. “Yeh Dil Maange More” (I want more), he had famously said. After that triumph, Capt. Batra was on to his next battle, the storming of another peak designated simply as Point 4875.
The Pakistanis were, by now, acknowledging him as a formidable opponent. “So you have come, Sher Shah (the code name for Vikram). We are waiting,” went the Pakistani warning on the radio-waves. Capt. Batra’s answer was to storm the peak in a fierce hand-to-hand fight, killing several Pakistani soldiers. Unfortunately, he took a fatal bullet in the chest. The bravest of the brave, Capt. Batra had promised his family that he would “kill death itself” if it came to him before he could prove his mettle. As his twin brother Vishal told this newspaper, “I remember him telling me that when one joins the armed forces, there is a bullet waiting for you (in battle). How right he was.”
Anger against Pakistan is still palpable, despite more than a decade having elapsed since the bloody conflict. Speaking earlier to this newspaper, Lt. Col. (retd.) R.S. Gupta — father of Kargil martyr and Mahavir Chakra awardee Maj. Vivek Gupta — had said, “We cannot rely on Pakistan. They (Pakistan) are the biggest liars.” Lashing out at former Pakistan President and Army chief Gen. Musharraf (who is considered the architect of Kargil), Lt. Col. Gupta had said, “I consider Musharraf to be the murderer of my son. He is the biggest liar and scoundrel. My blood boils whenever he comes to Indian soil and makes irresponsible statements against our country.”
On the tenth anniversary of the end of the Kargil conflict, in July last year, a two-day ceremony was organised by the Indian Army’s Northern Command in Kargil to pay homage to the martyrs of the conflict. Operation Vijay (victory) — to drive the Pakistani intruders from the mountain peaks in the
Dras and Batalik sector of Kargil — was launched on May 26, 1999, and ended on July 26 that year after a two-month struggle. Since then, July 26 has been observed as Kargil Diwas (day) every year.
The Indian Army lost over 500 soldiers in the conflict, with another 1,300 soldiers being injured. The Pakistani intruders comprised Pakistani armymen from its Northern Light Infantry and militants. The Indian Army fought bloody battles to reclaim the Tiger Hill and Tololing Complex in Dras as well as mountain peaks in the Batalik-Turtok sector. The Pakistani plan to push intruders into the Kargil area was believed to be that of the then Pakistan Army chief Gen. Pervez Musharraf who later staged a coup — just two months after the Kargil conflict ended — and became President of Pakistan only to resign from the post in 2008.
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