Literary seminar marks 125th anniversary of Saragarhi battle

Panchkula, August 26

The Haryana Punjabi Sahitya Akademi organised a literary seminar dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the Saragarhi battle here on Friday.

The seminar saw Major General Raj Mehta (retd), also an author, historian Simar Singh, historian and former MP Tarlochan Singh and Colonel Baldev Singh Chahal (retd), an Army expert, presenting their views. The stage was conducted by Punjabi litterateur Avi Sandhu.

Giving information on the Saragarhi martyrs, historian and president of Saragarhi Foundation Gurinder Pal Singh Joshan said 21 soldiers of the 36 Sikh Regiment fought with 10,000 ‘Pathans’ to protect the important fort of Saragarhi. He said the battle continued for about six hours, the 21 soldiers were martyred one by one. However, they did not allow the ‘Pathans’ to capture the fort. In the end, their leader Havildar Ishar Singh was also martyred while blocking the way of the enemies in front of the fort, Joshan said. ‘Dashavandh’, a book penned by litterateur Bharat Bhushan and Prof Brij Bhushan Sharma, was also released on the occasion.