A thought to our Kargil martyrs

Col PS Randhawa (Retd)

IT is terribly hot and humid in July. No one wants to get out in the bright sun. You soon get drenched in sweat, get dehydrated and look for cover. So it was in 2004 in Amravati, Maharashtra, where I was posted as the Commanding Officer of an NCC battalion. It was good to be in the company of ever enthusiastic young men participating in NCC activities wholeheartedly. Amravati is a small town and a non-military station. Only soldiers posted in the NCC are occasionally seen in Army uniform. 

As July 26 drew near, a letter was received from the headquarters to commemorate the Kargil Diwas. As I discussed with my staff, there was lukewarm response, suggesting to pass it off by organising a lecture for NCC cadets rather than conducting any activity on a hot, humid day. I was reminded of the days of Kargil operations when I was posted at Goa to be part of an outfit raised to train junior leadership of the Army. We officers used to scoff at the local populace who were oblivious of what the Army was facing in capturing treacherous mountain heights at the great cost of lives of young soldiers. Most of us had come from insurgency-affected areas, and for us Goa was a cultural shock. The outfit was soon moved out to Bareilly. But the general indifference of people towards the recognition of sacrifices of the Army remained etched in my memories.

I mulled about Kargil Day and my thoughts went out to the martyrs who without a second thought to their personal safety went ahead with their mission. Can’t we put ourselves in a bit of inconvenience to relive the memories of our martyrs and pay homage to them? I ordered my staff and we prepared placards. On July 26, we assembled all the NCC cadets and officers, gave them a stirring speech and marched out in single file through major roads of the town. I led them in full uniform. Local people craned their neck out of curiosity and soon some of them joined in. As we marched on, it became a big procession and the whole town was reverberating with slogans of ‘Kargil ke shaheed amar rahein’. Local newspapers carried our photographs on the front page the next day, drawing accolades from all and sundry. 

I have since made it a point to go out on Kargil Diwas to any war memorial and pay homage to martyrs, be it rain, thunder, or scorching hot. This is the least we can do for the martyrs who laid down their lives for us. As the day approaches, can we expect the citizens to come out of their comfort zone for a while and pay tributes to the martyrs at the nearest memorial, or walk up to the kin of martyrs and pay gratitude to them? Would it be asking for too much?