Sikh battalion Subedar’s advice saved Valley in ’47

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 8

The Kashmir valley was saved in 1947 due to military action stemming from a strong advice given by a Subedar of the 1st Sikh battalion of the Indian Army to his officer.

On realising that it was impossible to defend just the Srinagar airfield from the Pakistan army-backed armed raiders, the Subedar suggested to his boss Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Rai: “Sahib let’s go find the enemy rather than wait for them to arrive.”

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, a noted historian, narrated this anecdote at a session on the first Indo-Pak war (1947-48) on the opening day of the Military Literature Festival here this morning.

Col Rai heeded the advice and moved his troops towards Baramulla, some 34 miles north-west of Srinagar. That, Capt Amarinder said, changed the course of the fight. In all, 462 marauders were killed. In the meantime, the troops of the 1st Patiala moved up to Zoji La and held onto the pass for the six months, stopping the ingress of the raiders from the eastern flank. The two — 1st Sikh and 1st Patiala (now rechristened 15 Punjab) — secured a total of 27 gallantry awards among themselves, including 1 PVC, the highest war-time gallantry award.

Capt Amarinder said on October 25, when VP Menon, the then secretary of states, led a delegation to Srinagar, “there was panic”.

Dr Harish Khare, Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune Group of Newspapers, said: “Who did what to whom remains a matter of subjective interpretation even after 70 years. We have an Indian version, a Pakistan version and rather mischievous British version.”

“Many questions remain unanswered. What was the role of British leadership? Could things be different had an Indian General been given command of the Army (a British was the commander then). Could there have been a better timing for accepting a ceasefire? Many of the present narratives flow from the mistakes we made, not made, or presumed to be made,” said Dr Khare.

Lt Gen AK Mukherjee (retd) narrated how a company of 13 Field Regiment wore the uniform of 1st Sikh and when artillery guns arrived they reverted to being gunners (their original role). They fought a very decisive battle to save Uri.

Brig IS Gakhal (retd), who is from the Sikh Regiment, narrated interesting anecdotes on role of the 1st Sikh. Brig MS Gill (retd) listed the surprise caused by tanks at Zoji La that led to the advance towards Drass and Kargil. Maj Gen Shivdev Singh (retd) suggested that the battles of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh could not be seen in isolation when studying the war.