Where do we go from here, as a Nation?

By Col SS Rajan, A Veteran Bombay Sapper

 
1.             It is indeed a matter of national shame that Pakistan Army carries out a raid at Mendhar, near Poonch (J&K), capture two of our soldiers deployed in the forward post along the Line of Control (LoC) and beheads them; and we do nothing by way of retaliation.

2.            How I wish, the Indian Army had not created a hullaballoo of our soldiers being beheaded; but immediately launched an offensive against Pakistan Army along the LoC in J&K and killed 200 of their soldiers. That is the only language the Pakistanis understand.

3.            The Nation can be legitimately proud that our Commanders, starting from Army Commanders and down the line to Battalion Commanders are capable of retaliating and giving a befitting reply to Pakistanis. Yet, if they have not done so, the fault lies with our imbecile Political class, aided & abetted by self serving and vile Bureaucracy, in emasculating the Armed Forces’ will to fight and retaliate to Pakistan Army’s misdemeanors.

4.            Barbarism, massacre, rape, loot & plunder are synonymous with the Pakistan Army; nay, with all Muslim armies down the ages.

5.            To quote Lt Gen SK Sinha, former Vice Chief of Army Staff:

Ø    “During the 1947-48, the Srinagar Valley was totally isolated in winter with surface and air communications closed due to snow. We had an isolated garrison at Skardu Fort in Baltistan under Lt Col Shamsher Jung Thapa, besieged by Pakistani forces. A large number of Hindu and Sikh refugees had taken shelter in the fort. With supplies rapidly dwindling as we could not carry out airdrops, Col Thapa surrendered to Pakistani Army on announcement of ceasefire; and Pakistani forces occupied the fort. We soon intercepted a wireless message from the Pakistani commander at Skardu to his higher headquarters: “All Hindus & Sikhs killed and women raped.”

Ø    “During the 1971 war, Pakistani forces raped lakhs of Bengali women and massacred some one million Bangladeshis”.

Ø    “During the Kargil War, Capt Sourav Kalia and his men when unfortunately captured by the Pakistan Army, their eyes were gouged, their genitals cut and their bodies mutilated”.

Ø    “In February 2000, Ilyas Kashmiri captured Sepoy Talaker of 17 Maratha Light Infantry, beheaded him and presented his head as a war trophy to former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. He got a reward of One lakh. Photos of this grisly act were published in newspapers in Lahore”.

Ø    “While we were hosting Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, two soldiers of 20 Kumaon Regiment captured in Kupwara were beheaded as reported by an Indian news magazine”.

6.            Ineptitude and lack of spine in the political class, cutting across party lines, to take hard decisions in matters of National Security has been the bane of this Nation; which today is perceived as a ‘Soft State’ by the world.

Bungling by one Prime Minister after another

7.            In 1948, when Gen KM Cariappa, the then Commander of Indian Forces in Kashmir told Pandit Nehru that the Indian Army was poised to throw out the Pakistani invaders from Kashmir and all that he need was ten days time; Pandit Nehru turned a deaf ear and went in for a ceasefire, despite mature military advice. And, that was the start point of the Kashmir problem, complicated & compounded by each successive Prime Minister.

8.            Despite Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the then Home Minister, warning Pandit Nehru in writing on 7 Nov 1950 that China is a potential enemy and not to be trusted; Pandit Nehru ignored the Venerable Sardar’s advice, for which the Country paid a heavy price in 1962. Please click on the following link to read the Sardar’s letter.
http://www.friendsoftibet.org/main/sardar.html
 
9.            It is with pain & anguish I say, “Whatever gains have been made on the battle field by Soldiers, by spilling their blood and sacrificing their lives; the same have been negated or surrendered by Politicians, aided & abetted by self serving bureaucrats, across the negotiating table, in their talks with the enemy / adversary”.   Just two examples would suffice:

Ø    In Sep 1965 war with Pakistan, inspite of heavy odds, 1st Parachute Battalion of the Indian Army led by Major Ranjit Singh Dayal, a courageous soldier captured Hajipir Pass, a strategic location, in a daring operation; linking Uri and Poonch. Yet, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, the the Hon’ble Prime Minister Of India on the advice of ill informed & self serving bureaucrats surrendered Hajipir Pass to Pakistan, much against mature military advice.

Ø    At the end of the war with Pakistan in Dec 1971, Pakistan lay dis-membered and the Pakistan Army’s morale was shattered & broken, with the surrender of Lt Gen AAK Niazi alongwith 93000 PoW. In July 1972, at the Shimla talks, India was in an unassailable position to dictate terms to Pakistan; and insist on the vacation of Pak occupied Kashmir (PoK); in return for Pakistani PoW held in India. Had India insisted that Pakistan first vacate PoK, to facilitate return of PoW, Pakistan would have buckled and vacated PoK; and that would have put an end to Kashmir problem, then & there. But as ill luck would have it, that was not to be. Indira Gandhi drunk with power and having been won over by the charms of wily Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, returned 93000 Pakistani PoW, despite mature military advice against the move by Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the then Chief of Army Staff. What did India gain by going to war with Pakistan in Dec 1971 and suffering 10,000 casualties? Nothing, except a big ZERO. Sad.

10.         India and Pakistan can never live in peace. It is not because India does not desire peace; but, it is belligerent Pakistan, instigated, aided & abetted by China, with the tacit approval of USA, that it can impose its will militarily and forcibly wrest control of Kashmir. The very edifice of Pakistan is built on the foundation of Hate: ‘Hate India’. The people in Pakistan are indoctrinated, right from their childhood, in schools & colleges to Hate Hindus, Hate Indians and to Hate India. This mantra of hate is the elixir that sustains Pakistan, whether the Army rules or Zardai rules or Mr Nawaz Sharif rules or Syed Quadri rules or Imran Khan rules Pakistan. Where is the question of rapprochement & peace between India and Pakistan; when, barbaric Muslim invaders and marauders from the Afghanistan, like Mohd Ghori,  Mohd Ghazni & their ilk, who pillaged & plundered, ransacked & looted, raped & murdered the Indians, in the bygone era, are today the icons of hero worship by the Pakistanis; and, they hark back to the 1000 years of glorious Muslim & Mughal rule in India and its establishment once again.

11.          The Question is where do we go from here, as a Nation? Answer: Nowhere, except downhill. As long as we have Eunuchs like Manmohan Singh and a bunch of corrupt Politicians, aided & abetted by self serving & vile bureaucrats, ever willing to lick the Dhool (dust) off the shoes / chappals of Sonia Gandhi (aka Antonia Edvige Albina Maino) what else do you expect?

12.          Can the three Service Chiefs do anything to arrest the present slide? I am afraid not. Why? I regret to say that the three Service Chiefs,  have long ago mortgaged their professional integrity, for the sake of a few crumbs of office thrown at them by way of a Governor’s post to an in inconsequential state in the North-East or a ‘plum’ ambassadorial post to countries like Guatemala, Honduras or Nicaragua. What a shame. What a fall. GOD help this Country.
 
(The author was commissioned the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army in June 1963 and retired as Additional Chief Engineer in 1996. He commanded an Engineer Construction Company during the 1971 war in the Boyra- Jessore – Khulna sector in BanglaDesh.)

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