A tragic saga that goes on and on

LAST week, Capt Karamjit Singh Bakshi and a non-commissioned officer lost their lives in a blast triggered by militants near the Line of Control. This tragedy, all the more saddening for me as I served as a Colonel in the illustrious Army regiment to which they belonged, prompted me to recall Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1929). This novel is a timeless reminder of the incalculable human cost of armed conflict. The irony is in the title: A soldier dies on the frontline, but newspapers report ‘all quiet’. This shows how differently things are viewed and defined during a full-scale war or even a low-intensity conflict.

In our case, the irony lies in the fact that officers and soldiers have been sacrificing their lives for well over three decades in a conflict that the nation seems unable to resolve. There is a feeling of indifference and a business-as-usual approach adopted by society and the government of the day. Is the price to be paid and the trauma to be suffered only by the kin of these soldiers who chose this noble calling?

Back in August 1999, while serving in a Rashtriya Rifles battalion in south Kashmir, I witnessed the death of an experienced and energetic Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), who would be at the forefront in all counter-terror operations. During one such fierce encounter on the outskirts of a village, we ran into a group of Pakistani militants hiding in the high-standing maize crop. They were eliminated, but the JCO was hit by bullets in the chest and passed away in my arms. His body was taken to his native place and cremated with due honours.

Seeking closure to this tragic event, I and my wife went to his village near Amritsar to meet his family members. It was my solemn and sad duty to recount for them the happenings of that fateful day. Tears welled up in the eyes of his grief-stricken wife. She had only one question for me: Did he utter any last words as he lay dying in my grasp? I had to tell her truthfully that the almost unconscious warrior, with his eyes all but closed, did not have any parting message. As she came out of the house to see us off, her demeanour was stoic, with lines of grief etched on her face. For her, there would not be any satisfying closure to this benumbing blow of fate.

What needs to be questioned and addressed is our resolve as a country to tackle the situation created by a hostile neighbour. Political will, diplomatic skill, economic strength and military might — all have to come into play to bring the curtain down on this tragic saga. We owe this to the hallowed memory of Capt Bakshi and other gallant young men who have gone his way!