Remembering Our Heroes – On Kargil Victory Day

Remembering Our Heroes – On Kargil Victory Day

A STORY OF UNFLINCHING VALOUR: REMEMBERING OUR SOLDIERS ON 21ST KARGIL VIJAY DIWAS

“Either I will come back after hoisting the Tricolour, or I will come back wrapped in it, but I will be back for sure.” — Captain Vikram Batra. A soldier is not merely a person, but he is our pride. He is the heart of our country, the core of our strength and the honour of our Flag. Our Mother India saw the 21st anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas on 26th July. On this very day back in 1999, the Indian Army recaptured all the Indian posts in Kargil. These posts had been occupied by Pakistan’s Army in an armed conflict between India and Pakistan. Above all, This bloody battle took place in the Kargil district of Kashmir, India defeated Pakistan. Commemorating that day, the Kargil Vijay Diwas is celebrated with reminiscences of the Indian Army shielding our country. And therefore, swording against Pakistan with utmost courage and gallantry.

The exquisite towering peaks of the Himalayan Mountains have challenged the ability of man to survive in extreme conditions. Waging war at high altitude has proven to be a more daunting task. Above all, the high altitude environment has posed the same unique challenges to soldiers throughout history. From the Himalayan expedition of Alexander in the fourth century B.C. to the Indo-Pakistan Kargil Conflict in 1999. The Kargil war is the most recent example of high-altitude warfare in mountainous terrain. And as such posed significant logistical problems for the combating sides. It is also the only instance of direct, conventional warfare between the states that possess nuclear arms.

About Kargil War: A Walkthrough

India had conducted its first successful nuclear test in 1974, named as Smiling Buddha. Pakistan, which had been developing its nuclear capability secretly since around the same time, conducted its first test in 1998. Only two weeks after the second series of tests by India. In the summer of 1999, Pakistan and India engaged in high altitude combat in Kargil. Pakistani forces occupied peaks in Indian-held territory. Dominating the lone road that connected India to the remote reaches of the Kashmir state. The Indian Army faced the formidable task of defeating an enemy entrenched atop commanding heights. In addition, a campaign that lasted seventy-four days concluded with India in control of the peaks around Kargil.

Talking about the backdrop, only few senior Pakistani leaders know whether the incursion which began in early 1999. Or something designed to force international intervention in Kashmir. Or if it was simply the result of local commanders’ initiative to seize terrain along the Line Of Control (LOC) unoccupied by Indian forces.

Concomitants Of The War

Kargil-like operations are viewed by Pakistan as an ineffective means of dispute resolution, mainly because Kargil appears to come out as a failure in the eyes of the world. The significance of this conclusion, however, is limited by the fact that many stakeholders in Pakistan simultaneously believe that Kargil can be seen as a victory of sorts. This continuing ambiguity about the effect of Kargil, when coupled with the strong Pakistani belief in the utility of other kinds of coercive operations against India, has unsettling consequences for the prospect of lasting stability. In stark contrast to Pakistan’s guarded and even deceptive accounts of Kargil, India has been very critical of key operational areas and has published several accounts of the operation.

The Lion Hearted

We have come long enough to realise that we, the Indians, have to be ready for Pakistani recklessness, appearing in different areas and taking various forms. Herein comes the Indian Army without whose shield India would lay defeated by the strikes of Pakistan. The three-month war lead to the demise of Nearly 490 Indian army officers, soldiers and jawans.

Among the brave heroes of Kargil, there was Captain Anuj Nayyar who lost his life in the Tiger Hill during the war. In addition, there was Lieutenant Keishing Clifford Nongrum, Indian Army Major Padmapani Acharya, Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari, Colonel Sonam Wangchuk, Major Vivek Gupta, Naik Digendra Kumar, Sanjay Kumar who was the rifleman, Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav and many other courageous heroes who were awarded either Maha Vir or Param Vir Chakra for their ceaseless bravery and chivalry shown in the battlefield.

Though in this tumultuous time of Covid-19 any grand outdoor celebration is not possible. Let us pause for a moment and pay our heartiest tribute to the ones who guarded us all and saved our country. They bore the deepest scars of the wounds of war and shielded us from the fire and smoke of death, and our National Flag flies high with the breaths of them, mingling with the blood of their hearts and the spirit of their entities. Jai Hind!

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