Prompt surgical procedures undertaken on critically-injured soldiers and all are stable currently, says Army
he Indian Army on Saturday night announced that bodies of seven soldiers, who were killed in a road accident near the Line of Control (LoC) in Turtuk sector of Ladakh, shall move to their respective native places for last rites.
The Army also gave out the names of those killed in the mishap. Names are released only after the families of those dead are informed officially.
The bodies will be moved to Delhi from where separate civilian aircraft shall carry the mortal remains to respective places.
Those dead are Subedar Shinde Vijayrao from Satara, Maharashtra; Naib Subedar Gurudayal Sahu from Betul, Madhya Pradesh; Naik Sandeep Pal from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand; Naik Ramanuj Kumar from Patna, Bihar; Naik Jadhav Prashant Shivaji from Kolhapur, Maharashtra and Lance Naik Bappaditya Khutia from Pashchim Mednipur in West Bengal.https://366f5a87110bc7ee62d1d1703d9a468f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
The dead were among a party of 26 soldiers who were moving from the transit camp in Partapur near Siachen to a forward location in Sub Sector Hanif, when the accident occurred.
The vehicle skidded off the road and fell in Shyok River resulting in injuries to all occupants. Seven of the occupants died, 19 other injured are under treatment at Western Command hospital at Chandimandir.
In March this year, both India and Pakistan had agreed and reiterated their respective commitment to implement the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in its true spirit
Photo for representational purpose only. iStock
Islamabad, May 29
The Pakistani delegation crossed over to India on Sunday morning and it is scheduled to have meetings with the Indian side in New Delhi on Monday and Tuesday.
“There will be talks on the sharing of flood forecast data while the PCJW (Pakistan Commission for Indus Water) annual report will also be discussed during the negotiations,” said Pakistan’s Commissioner for Indus Water, Syed Muhammad Mehr Ali Shah.
The Pak delegation during its previous rounds of talks had shared its reservations and objections over the spillway and freeboard of the Pakal Dul project, demanding that a visit to the site should be arranged in the early part of May and another annual meeting on the issue should be held and discussions on the matter could be made part of the annual report and minutes of the PCIW.
However, the demand to visit the Pakal Dul project has not been met by the Indian side yet and the Pak delegation will not be visiting the dams.
“The Pakistani delegation will not visit the under construction Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnaj dams, but the matter and other projects will be discussed,” said Mehr Ali Shah.
“Pakistan had always insisted on the implementation of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and raised its voice on India’s behaviour in a timely manner,” Shah added.
In March this year, both India and Pakistan had agreed and reiterated their respective commitment to implement the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in its true spirit and had expressed hope that the next meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission would be held as per schedule or on an early date in India.
Not much is expected out of the meeting. However, the routine meetings between the two arch-rival neighbours, held alternatively in India and Pakistan annually, are certainly a forward movement towards bilateral engagements.
Cost of War’: Daughter recalls using toy phone to ‘talk’ to her army officer father killed in action
Simran Randhawa says it is easy to chant for war and action from the safety of one’s home but there is a price for every victory
New Delhi, May 29Simran Randhawa recalls using a toy phone to make imaginary calls to “talk” to her father, Major Sukhvinder Singh Randhawa, who was killed during an anti-militancy operation in Pulwama in 1997 she she was just
Narrating her experience in her book ‘Cost of War’, Simran says it is easy to chant for war and action from the safety of one’s home but there is a price for every victory.
“I wanted to write a book to describe how a child feels after he or she has lost father. War does not just end with fallen soldiers. It also leaves behind the tattered lives of their families,” 26-year-old Simran, currently studying psychology in Canada, said.
Her father, Major Randhawa, was awarded Kirti Chakra posthumously after he laid down his life but only after killing two terrorists on June 17, 1997. She was 18 months at that time.
Her mother, Lt Col RJ Randhawa, was the first married women officer commissioned in the Army and the credit goes to Ranjana Malik, the then president of the Army Wives Welfare Association, who pursued her case through her husband and then Army chief Gen Ved Prakash Malik.
“It was a case closely followed by Ranjana and I had a meeting with the then Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) Mulayam Singh Yadav, who gave clearance for relaxing the rules and allowing her to be commissioned in the army,” Malik said at the book launch.
In the book, Simran talks about moments of her life where she missed her father and questioned those who indulge in warmongering.
“…it is easy to chant for war and action from the safety of your own homes. It is easy to talk about the inaction of the Army or the government when you are looking at a TV screen and not a hail of bullets.
“Every time you demand war, think of us. I think we, as a country, sometimes forget that there is a price for every victory. We forget until you pass by a war memorial and see the never-ending names, we forget until you see someone like me cry, and our lives ruined. I think sometimes we forget that there are lives that bleed for each victory,” she writes.
She remembered her visit to the National War Memorial where everyone sees a stone for all the fallen soldiers. “And towards the end you see rows of empty stones, waiting for soldiers to fall. What an ominous sight, to expect more bloodshed. In a way it is practical to have room for more stones, but in every other way, it is utterly heartbreaking,” she said.
Having preserved her every single memory, Simran writes that people generally say that children forget with the passage of time. “Well let me tell you something, they don’t. They might not remember details or facts, but they remember how they feel,” she said.
“I remembered the feeling of loss. The feeling of calling out for someone who is just a memory now. I remember using a toy phone to make imaginary calls to papa on some imaginary military base that he is on.
“A base that he couldn’t return from or call from. I remember looking at families and just knowing that something was missing…,” she wrote.
Former chief of Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) Lt Gen KJS Dhillon said the book is a feeling of a young girl who felt lucky to be born a premature baby, as that would mean she spent a few more moments in the lap of her soldier father.
Former Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, while complimenting the author, said this not only the cost of war but the “cost of peace” for the nation, paid by the families of soldiers, sailors and air warriors.
When Army connection helped in better care, attention
I can vouch for the fact that the migrants who had a member or a relative in the Army had to suffer much less in 1947
Col TBS Bedi (Retd)
My grandfather, Bedi Amar Singh, served in the 11th KEO Lancers as Daffadar for more than 30 years, including his field service in the North West Frontier Province and France during World War I. Since my father was serving at Bengal Engineering Group (BEG) and Centre, Roorkee, we, including my grandfather and the family of his elder brother, shifted to the refugee camp set up by the Army. The barracks were converted into living quarters for a large number of uprooted families of jawans and officers with minimal facilities of water and toilets outside the barracks.
When our family left home in Mandi Bahawaldin near Lahore in August 1947, my elders believed that once the rioting was over and the situation became normal, we would return to our homes. So, my parents locked the house and left the keys with our friendly Muslim neighbours, giving them charge of our cattle. When it dawned a little later that we could never go back and that we had in fact lost everything, it was quite traumatic for the family.
I was only four at the time of Partition but some of the incidents I was witness to are etched deeply in memory. For those living in Mandi Bahawaldin, the closest railway station was Lalamusa. Stories of communal violence, fires and the news of the murders of people known to our family used to be the subject of most of our conversations. We were lucky that in our extended family, there was no loss of life and no physical injury was suffered by anyone.
My early memories relate to the primary school I joined at Roorkee Cantt located near our refugee camp area. The fog of the tense communal situation, imagined fears and hatred against Muslims were reflected in our small talk and the games we played. Children seemed to enjoy shouting “Hath mein beedi, moonh mein paan, chal mere bhai Pakistan”. Most of us at the camp were Sikhs and it was assumed that beedi and paan were the marks of a Muslim, and the right place for the Muslim was Pakistan.
Unit games were organised for troops of BEG Centre as an annual ritual. What interested us more was the race organised at the end of the meet for the children of the troops and those living in the camp. I came first in 50 metre races. The prize distribution ceremony took more time and I was quite late to reach home. My mother scolded me but when I told her about the prize, showing her the tin of sweets, she hugged me with a broad smile.
Soon thereafter, my grandfather and his brother were allotted 30 acres of agricultural land with two mango gardens at Sandhora village in Naraingarh tehsil of Ambala district. Interestingly, in lieu of the house we left in Pakistan, we were allotted a big deserted masjid where we stayed till 1954. Living there was quite an experience. Drawing water from the pucca well outside the masjid and filling a big circular copper tank through buckets was a regular duty we children enjoyed. There being no electricity, food was served by sunset. And then, it was story-telling time as all of us brothers and sisters gathered round our mother.
The promotion of my father as Jemadar (now called Naib Subedar) was an occasion to celebrate. My grandfather was very happy to see his son become a JCO. After his six-year posting at Delhi, where I had my school education, his new posting in 1960 brought us to Ambala Cantt. Our house was near the Air Force Station. During the 1965 war, it was the main target of the Pakistan Air Force. This war was a turning point for me as I was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers as 2nd/Lt. A memorable event was the visit of Lt Gen Harbaksh Singh, the Western Army Commander, to my wedding in 1971 at Delhi, since my father was on his staff. The sword which he presented to me is a cherished memento.
During the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, I was posted at Kanpur. Since there was no military married accommodation available, I was allotted a rented accommodation in the civilian area at Swadeshi Cotton Mill Colony near Kidwai Nagar. The Sikhs became the target of ferocious mobs. Many were actually refugees from Pakistan who were rehabilitated in distinct colonies. I remember when the riots erupted on October 31, one of my worried Hindu friends came to ask me to shift immediately to the Army area. It was a nightmare. I managed to call my course-mate, Maj Suraj Attri, who sent a 1-tonne vehicle with an armed escort and we were evacuated safely. En route, we could see the extent of violence and damage to property. Many of my age who were not witness to the 1947 massacres appeared to see for the first time the madness that could manifest itself in human beings.
I remember how the Army made special arrangements in their barracks to house the affected persons, including civilians, and provide for their needs. You felt a loss of belonging here, but the Army’s presence, as always, brought a touch of solace and normalcy. The Army was always there.
— The writer is based in Mohali
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