Kargil Vijay Diwas today ... remembering those great martyrs of our motherland

They'd promised their families they'd come back soon. They more than kept their word. Went as mere men. Came back as heroes in coffins ~ * they gave their Today for our Tomorrow*  26^th July, today, is  a very important day for the Nation and all of us……. Today is the  ~Kargil Vijay Diwas, the day   of successful completion of Operation Vijay. On this day, 26 July 1999, India successfully took command of the high outposts which had been lost to Pakistani intruders. The Kargil war was fought for more than 60 days, ended on 26 July.  This did result in the loss of lives but not the honour of the Nation. 

Great People – Country must remember the Names -  :  Captain Anuj Nayyar, Captain Amol Kalia, Captain Manoj Pande, Captain P.V.Vikram, Captain Vikram Batra, Deputy Commander Sukhbir Singh Yadav, Driver-Soldier Gopinath Moharana,  Flight Engineer Raj Kishore Sahoo, Grenadiar Amardeep, Grenadiar Bajinder Singh Naik Surjeet Singh, Naik Subedar Lal Chand, Naik Vikram Singh, Naik Yoginder Singh, Rifleman Ansuya Prasad Dhayani, Rifleman Bachan Singh, Subedar Sumer Singh Rathore, Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, Squadron Leader Rajiv Pundir, Squadron Leader Lal Singh, Squadron Leader Ojha, Zrfn Man Singh,  Kaushal Yadav in the history books of the school curriculum.   The illustrious list includes all the  527 heroes who sacrificed their future for protecting the honour of the Nation….. yes these are some of the names of Indian jawans and officers who made the supreme sacrifice in the battle field of Kargil.

Kargil War was fought on the high glaciers of Himalayas between May and July 1999 – 15years ago.  During that time Pak soldiers infiltrated and after valiant fight, India recaptured the positions, in exhibiting the highest valour in high altitude warfare in mountainous terrains.  Tiger Hill or Point 5353, a mountain in the Drass-Kargil area of Jammu & Kashmir, India was the subject of the most famous battle.   

There have been years where I had posted with more than a tinge of sadness of Press not recapturing the day.  This year, it appears to be different - Reports state that yesterday Indian Army Chief General Bikram Singh paid tribute to the martyrs of the 1999 Kargil War in Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh region on the occasion of 15th Vijay Diwas. "I want to assure you as chief of the army staff that the Indian Army is deployed at the border and has the capability to protect India's sovereignty and integrity," General Singh told the media.

Today a search on Kargil yields so many commemorative results.  One such is the real-life story of Major DP Singh who bravely fought for India in the Kargil War and  has now  run 12 half-marathons. 

He was 25 when mortar fire from Pakistan ripped through his body. At first, he was declared dead at the field hospital where he was taken by other soldiers.  When he was revived, his right leg was amputated. 

A diagnosis that could have left a 20-something devastated was read with trademark enterprise as an opportunity.  "When the amputation news was shared with me, I thought perhaps this is God-gifted. I thought this is a new challenge to find out how people like me live. And perhaps someday I will become, I will do something which will be a motivation for my type of people." 

So the former officer became set on turning into India's Blade Runner. That indefatigable spirit prompted him into motivational speaking.

WAR is never to be craved for, it causes innumerable and irreparable losses to both the warring sides.  But no Nation can afford to forget the sacrifices of its warriors.   Kargil has lessons for both, India and Pakistan.   The peaks of Tololing and Tiger Hill once reverberated in Indian news etched in history.   Indiawould remain a peace loving Nation having good relationship with its neighbours but should remember that there are military adventurist army driven Nations who have the propensity to engage in conflicts notwithstanding any episodic peace rhetoric.  The Nation needs to remain prepared and strong militarily and in terms of civil defence measures but should not never get buoyed by war calls- and the following read in the Facebook page of Indian Army Fans is worthy of reading again and again.

If you can't be a Soldier, help a Soldier. If you can't fight at the borde, fight the chaos in your neighbourhood. If you can't nurse a soldier's wound, wipe the tears of his family members. If you can’t feed a soldier, pray he sleeps indoors tonight. If you can’t thank him personally, thank his parents. If you can’t help him get back, make sure his body gets home, with all due respect and much more. If you can’t be a soldier, thank them everyday. If you can’t be a soldier, encourage your child to be one. If you can't be a Soldier, learn to atleast respect one.

Today, is the time, we remember the martyrs of Kargil. Jai Jawan, Jai Hind………

Saluting the Warriors saving our Nation….

With Great respect to Soldiers – S. Sampathkumar.