Many of us have seen film ‘Lakshya’ starring Hritik
Roshan, Preeti Zinta and AB. In the film, it is shown that some shepherds
notice infiltrators from Pakistan and report the same to Indian army. In other
scene, we see bodies of ‘5’ Indian soldiers who were tortured to death by
Pakistanis. We all watch this thinking them to be just the fictional parts of
the film, not knowing that these are the actual incidences which took place on
May 03 and May 05 1999, respectively.
Our country is permanently indebted to those shepherds and the five
brave soldiers.
Though it is very well known to all, I feel I have to
state some details about the Kargil War. The war was fought between May 03 and
July 26, 1999. Since then, July 26 is celebrated as Kargil Vijay Divas. The
major offensive by Indian army started on 06 July, 1999. Indian Air Force lost one
MIG21, One MIG27 and one M17 and total 8 crew members, during Operation Safed
Sagar. Total 30000 Indian troops were
involved in Kargil war. The official casualty figures as 527 dead and 1,363
wounded.
Two years back, I and my wife were on our road trip,
Mumbai-Leh-Mumbai. The trip was stretched over 35 days and 7000kms in our sweet
little Tata Indica. We were on our Srinagar-Sonmarg-Kargil section. The
completely unadulterated nature, lofty peaks, chill in the air, constant
company of Indus River and everything else about the drive was divine. The
complete loneliness, isolation and the thoughts of being so near to the line of
control (LOC) was little scary. Naturally, we were discussing Kargil War and
bravery of our soldiers. As we were approaching kargil, suddenly on the left
hand side, emerged this beautiful ‘DRAS WAR MEMORIAL’.
(This wall has names of martyrs engraved on it)
I got down asking the guard at the gate if we could go inside, while my wife parked the car, in tree shade. (One can see me wearing shorts, standing near the guard)
We were allowed inside. We were also given a guide to
explain the details of the war and significance of the memorial. There, a wall
is erected on which the names of all the martyrs are engraved. We were
moved. We stood in front of the wall for a while, with our heads bowed down
with respect and gratitude for those who gave away their lives so that people
like us can enjoy our freedom. Then, we
were escorted to the room where “Shahid Kalash’ (Ashes of Martyrs) was kept.
(Shri.Ombir Singh, who was our guide, needs special mention. We could feel his intense feelings when he was narrating the entire war to us)
It
was our most natural reaction to remove our foot wares and to pay our most
heartfelt respect by touching our foreheads on ground in front of “Kalash”. Our actions were noticed by the commanding
officer who was standing in the next room. He called us to his cabin and
offered us some snacks and a warm cup of tea. We were surprised to receive such
hospitability, and wondered if they offer such treatment to everyone who
visits the memorial. Our doubts were soon cleared
when he said,” Saab, many people come here. They move around, take photographs,
joke and laugh, touch a few things here and there and leave. They treat this
place as one of the sightseeing spot they have to visit and no more. This is the
first time I am seeing somebody paying honest, heartfelt respect to my dead
brothers.”
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