Police bravehearts remembered

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 21

The 57th state-level Police Commemoration Day was observed here today at the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) headquarters in the city to pay tributes to the brave personnel of the state who sacrificed their lives for the unity and integrity of the nation.

Paying glowing tributes to the personnel of the state, Punjab DGP Suresh Arora said the Punjab Police was an exceptional force which served the country both in times of peace and disturbance. He said the state police had sacrificed its 2,719 officers and constables while fighting terrorism in the country, whereas during the era of black days of terrorism in the state, 1,784 officers and officials of the police force lost their lives to counter terrorism.

A well-organised commemoration parade was held at the Police Martyr’s memorial constructed inside the PAP campus. After giving a general salute to the DGP, the names of all 147 police martyrs of this year, including ASI Surinder Singh from Kapurthala district, were read out by SP Navjot Mahal. Later, a ceremonial escort party approached the Martyr’s Memorial and presented the Scroll of Honour having the names of martyr cops of this year. A two-minute silence was observed and later senior officials laid wreath at the martyr’s memorial.

Addressing the martyrs’ families, the DGP assured them that their grievances would be redressed on a priority basis and new welfare schemes would be mooted to provide more facilities to them. He said it was only due to the never-ending support by their families that the cops were able to do their duty with full grit and honour.

History of Police Commemoration Day

The history of commemoration day goes back to October 21 1959 when a patrol party of the CRPF, led by SI Karam Singh, was ambushed by Chinese forces at Hot Springs in Ladakh and 10 jawans were killed. The bravery and the resulting sacrifice of jawans, fighting at 16,000 ft altitude in extremely cold conditions and against all odds, is an epitome of the rarest of the rare courage. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police sends a representative party of all police forces of the country to Hot Springs, Ladakh, every year to pay homage to the martyrs who laid down their lives on October 21, 1959, while guarding the national frontiers.

Since then on October 21 every year, commemoration parades are held in all police units as a mark of respect to brave police martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. Arms are reversed and a two-minute silence is observed in the honour of the departed souls. The names of police martyrs of states, police and paramilitary forces are read out to acknowledge the supreme sacrifices made by them.

The Punjab Police has been called upon to perform multifarious duties in various parts of the country. After Independence, the Punjab Police protected the Indo-Pak border as well as the Indo-Chinese Border before the ITBP & BSF came into being. The Punjab Police is also sent for internal security duty to many terrorism-affected states at a very short notice.

Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India, also acknowledged the contribution of the Punjab Police during the India-Pakistan partition. “I know the difficulties and disaster which overtook the Punjab Police during the period of partition. Your force was depleted terribly and quickly you had to begin from a scratch. … After such a partition and the period of communal disturbances, a parallel of which is not known, you had to face great difficulties and you have, in fact, performed a miracle in reorganising your force in such a short time and in such a splendid manner,” said Patel.

ACP Deepika Singh led Salami Parade

ACP, North, Deepika Singh, became the first woman officer to have commanded the Salami Day parade at the Police Commemoration day ceremony here. A distinguished officer, Deepika Singh has already earned laurels by successfully conducting community welfare programmes by bringing together NGOs and other social welfare organisations.

Martyr’s wife seeks DGP’s assurance for son’s job

The lone martyr this year from Punjab ASI Surinder SIngh’s wife remembers the last time she saw her husband. “After having breakfast, he was getting ready for office. Though he used to wear uniform every day, somehow, he was looking different that day. Later, he called me in the night and said that he would not be able to come home before morning. Then he gave another call an hour before the fateful incident. Since I was at gurdwara, I could not hear him properly and asked him to call back after some time. I didn’t know that I will not be able to hear from him ever,” said the grief-stricken wife.

She said since her son had recently taken admission in BA (1st year), she was seeking a written assurance from the DGP, Punjab, that he would be given a job after three years once he would complete his graduation. Simarjeet Kaur said the DGP had assured her and her family all necessary support.