They saved Kashmir for India

By Pritam Bhullar

"IN the ever-green memory of the brave soldiers of the Sikh Regiment who gave their lives so that Kashmiris might live in freedom. They were the first Indian troops to come to their rescue on October 27, 1947. On this fateful hill was fought their first engagement," reads a board near a forested hill about 50 km from Srinagar and close to Baramulla.

Lieut-Col Ranjit Rai was informed on October 26, 1947 that he had to fly his unit 1 Sikh, which was on internal security duty at Gurgaon, to Srinagar the next morning to defend it against the tribal onslaught. The battalian was rushed to Palam and at the break of dawn on October 27, the first Dakota took off with the instructions that if the Srinagar airfield was in the enemy hands, it should land at Jammu.

After landing at the Srinagar airfield, the Commanding Officer, Col Rai, set out with a company from his unit, in the vehicles provided by the National Conference, towards Baramula to block the road and prevent the enemy from advancing towards Srinagar.

When Col Rai was deploying his men on green hill near Baramula, the enemy was already there. Our company was attacked by force. Col Rai was hit by a burst of automatic fire and fell. Most of his men fought heroically and fell around him.

Thus, Lieut-Col Ranjit Rai, who was awarded Maha Vir Chakra (posthumously), was the first Commanding Officer to sacrifice his life for independent India.

Why does a soldier fight?

At the assault line, a soldier knows that every breath that he takes may be his last one, yet he assaults the objective under intense fire. Why?

Some people say that a soldier joins military service knowing full well that he has to face death in battle, yet he opts for this service to earn his livelihood. Others argue that it is due to his training, high morale and good leadership that he fights. Another opinion is that the national cause goads him to fight.

According to the experts, all these are contributory factors. Philip Mason writes in his book, A matter of honour: "Men may come to colours for pay, but it is not for pay that they earn Victoria Cross". In his book, Men Against Fire, SLA Marshal says: "Morale in combat is never a steady current of force but a rapidly oscillating wave". According to Maj-Gen Terry-de-Messa Allen, comradeship is the rallying factor in war. He says; "Men do not fight for a cause but because they do not want to let down their comrades".

In his foreword to the book, behind the scene, Field Marshal Manekshaw says; "I have heard rumours for the proposed reorganisation of the Indian Army into mixed units on the basis of state population under the garb of recruitment balance.... If this imprudent proposed political decision is accepted by sychophantic generals, I forecast doom and calamity".

The consensus seems to be that the commonality of language, customs, traditions and food habits bind men together and prepare them psychologically for a brush with death and achieve personal honour. Thus, it is comradeship more than anything else that makes a soldier fight.

Victims of greed

How many ex-servicemen, lured by over 30 per cent interest that finance companies offer, have lost their hard earned savings is difficult to imagine. To quote only a few examples from Delhi, a Maj-Gen lost Rs 12 lakh, a Colonel’s widow Rs 3 lakh and a Lieut-Col about Rs 7 lakh. They and many more, not only in Delhi but all over the country, have lost all their pensionary benefits. They are now fighting court battles to get their money back.

After their retirement, gullible soldiers suddenly realise that everyone in the civil life is financially better off than them. Granted that today life has become very expensive. But what these officers should realise is that their pensionary benefits today, including group insurance work out on an average to around Rs 10 lakh, whereas those who retired over a decade ago came home with less than Rs 2 lakh. If the latter can live within their means, why can’t the former?

No doubt, today everything is weighed in terms of money. But then, it is much better not to enter into the money race and be content with what you have, rather than losing your life’s savings and your sleep.

A question being asked is: Will these soldiers get their money back? Knowing that many key functionaries of such companies, after making a fortune, have gone underground and court cases take years to decide, one wishes them all the luck. But more lucky are those who have not been bitten by the greed bug.

They need your help

Granted that Government orders for the revision of pension of personnel below officer rank (PBOR) were issued a few weeks ago. Who will help a large number of ex-servicemen and widows, of the years of yore, most of whom are illiterate and cannot fill the requisite forms? Who will provide these forms to them?

Surprisingly, some ex-servicemen and widows do not even know that they have to submit these application forms (in duplicate) to the Defence Pension Disbursing Officers (DPDOs) by February 28, 1999.

Some volunteer organisations of ex-servicemen have to render this yeoman’s service to their brethren. One such organisation started functioning at Pankaj Hotel in Sector 22 in the last week of August. In the first instance, 2,000 forms were printed by them and as the response picked up, 35,000 forms were provided to them by Headquarters Western Command.

To help the pensioners in filling up these forms, free counselling is provided on regular basis by two pensioners on every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Besides, counselling centres have also been established by this set-up in all districts of Punjab and at Kalka in Haryana. More volunteers must come forward to help the octogenarian ex-soldiers and widows in all the districts.