A YEAR AFTER THEIR MARTYRDOM THEIR
FAMILIES HAVE LOST ALL HOPE

The plight of parents of some of the officers, who sacrificed their lives for the country, seems unbearable. In several cases, after the death of their husbands, the widows of the officers have left the homes of their in-laws, taking with them their children, writes Prabhjot Singh.

THEY died so that others may live. Almost one year after they made the supreme sacrifice while fighting infiltrators from across the border in Kargil, families of nearly 80 gallant soldiers from Punjab have still not been able to come to terms with their loss.

Some of these families have broken up, as aged parents have been left to fend for themselves. "We lost our world the day we lost our Balbir in Kargil," sobs 75-year-old Jagir Singh, a marginal farmer of Dappar in Patiala district.

"I not only lost my son, Major Kanwal Gulzar Singh of 32 Rashtriya Rifles, but also my daughter-in-law and grandchildren, who have left us," says Major Kartar Singh (retired), a cousin of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief, Bibi Jagir Kaur.

Others who signed the memorandum included Kamaljeet Singh, father of late Capt Mandeep Singh of 4 Rashtriya Rifles; Ravi Dada, father of late Major Raman Dada (Kirti Chakra) of 11 Sikh; and Vedvrat Sharma, father of late Major Rohit Shama (Shaurya Chakra).

Except for Major Raman Dada, who made the supreme sacrifice in the North-east, all others died while fighting the infiltrators in the Kashmir valley last year. Forty-two-year-old Subedar Balbir Singh of 88 Field Regiment laid down his life in the Batalik area on August 10 last year. "No one has done anything for us(his parents). All agencies, of the Central and state governments, offer benefits and monetary aid to the widows and children of the soldiers, but there is none to look after the parents,"says Jagir Singh.

"In his death, we have lost everything," he says, as he is joined by his wife who is suffering from arthritis. "Of my six sons, three joined the Army. Now Balbir is no more. Another son has retired and the third one is still in service". Subedar Balbir Singh's widow was away to her parents home in Patiala. One of her two sons has been admitted to the YPS, Patiala, while the other one goes to Minerva Boarding School, near Kharar.

Family members, including nephews, of the Subedar complain that in spite of the numerous promises made by the government, not a single memorial has been raised in the village so far. They all, however, continue to feel proud of the "supreme sacrifice made by our Balbir who did the village and the state proud."

Paramjit kaur, widow of Havildar Bikram Singh of 8 Sikh who was among the first to die for the nation while evicting the enemy from the Tiger Hill in the Dras sector, says: "I am proud of my husband's great sacrifice, but I have one regret. He did not live to see his second son."

Paramjit, who has been employed as peon in a school near her village, says her husband had promised to call her after reaching Srinagar in June, but fate willed otherwise. On July 6, he made the supreme sacrifice, exactly a fortnight after she delivered Gagandeep.

Kubiherra, the native village of Hav Bikram Singh, has had the tradition of sending its brave young men to the armed forces even before the Partition. In the Kargil operations, the village lost two of its brave sons — Hav Bikram Singh and his cousin sepoy Sukhpreet Singh of 5 Sikh.

Sukhpreet had been recruited in the Army only the previous year. It was Sukhpreet who had visited the Khizrabad police post to receive news about his cousin, Hav Bikram Singh, before it was broken to the bereaved family. Policemen briefed Sukhpreet about the death of his cousin. A couple of months later when Sukhpreet went and joined Indian soldiers in the Kargil sector, he, too, made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.

Though the eldest son of Hav Bikram Singh has been adopted by none other than Flying Sikh Milkha Singh and Paramjit Kaur has been given a job as per her qualifications, the villagers are not satisfied by such compensations alone. They feel that something should be been done to commemorate the sacrifices made by Bikram Singh and Sukhpreet Singh.

"Some roads in the area had to be named after these gallant soldiers. But nothing has been done so far," says Tarspal Singh, father of Sukhpreet Singh.

The families of Hav. Vikram Singh, Sepoy Sukhpreet Singh and Sub. Balbir Singh

"Since Sukhpreet was a bachelor and his younger brother, Gurvinder, is too young to take a job, I wanted that my wife, Harminder, be given a government job. They tell me that they are processing our request. I do not know how long that will take," he adds.

The plight of parents of some of the officers, who sacrificed their lives for the country ,seems unbearable. With the exception of one, in the remaining three cases, the widows of the officers have left the homes of their in-laws, taking with them their children.

"My daughter-in-law walked out on us not only with our grandchildren but also with a booty of Rs 45 lakh, paid to her as ex gratia by various agencies," alleges Major Kartar Singh (retd). "It is not the money alone but the fact that they are depriving us of the honour of even associating ourselves with the sacrifices made by our brave officer sons," says Ravi Dada. His wife, Saroj, laments that she and her husband had not even been invited to the investiture ceremony held in Delhi in April this year, where her son, Maj Raman Dada, was posthumously conferred the Kirti Chakra.

"We feel humiliated. At least we should have been given the opportunity to get one look at the Kirti Chakra bestowed upon my son. They specially invited me to pin a badge on Raman when he was inducted in the Army. Now after he is gone, I have even lost the right to be invited to such a ceremony," she said.

The Jalandhar-based parents maintain that they are "proud of the supreme sacrifices their sons made" but feel cheated by those who promised to honour their sacrifices but did nothing. The Mayor of Jalandhar, for example, offered financial help to each of such families last year but nothing has come as yet. Similarly, when the Managing Committee of DAVColleges organised a function in New Delhi to honour family members of those Indian soldiers who had been students of DAVcolleges in the country, parents of both Major Kanwar Gulzar Singh and Capt Mandeep Singh were left out of the list. Even the money promised by Bibi Jagir Kaur has not been paidw