When India’s national mood pays a tribute to its war dead by calling them “martyrs”, it perhaps perpetuates an unintentional disservice. The term “martyrs” is misplaced in the context of Indian soldiers, because by training and inclination, the Indian Army is not passive “martyr material”. If and when their time comes, they do not passively accept their fate, but go down fighting, “Last Man, Last Round” and try and take as many of their enemies with them.
Captain Saurabh Kalia of 4 Jat Regiment is a case in point. An officer of the Indian Army, he was taken prisoner on May 15, 1999, during the very initial stages of the Kargil War of 1999, after his five-man reconnaissance patrol probing Pakistani intrusions in the Kaksar sector of Kargil was ambushed by Pak troops.
He and his troops were surprised, but were able to inflict as many casualties as they could, before being physically overpowered after their ammunition ran out. The survivors remained in Pakistani custody from May 15 to June 7, and were tortured. There-after, they were shot dead and their grossly mutilated bodies were handed over to India.
No action was taken by India beyond an almost pro forma complaint lodged with the deputy high commissioner of Pakistan in India regarding breach of Geneva Con-ventions by the Pakistan Army — a charge which was shrugged off by Pakistan. N.K. Kalia, the grieving father of the officer, took up the crusade to bring the murderers of his dead son to justice and arraign them before the war crimes tribunal in the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
While there was considerable public sympathy for Mr Kalia, official support from governments were amiss. It was only until 2015 that the Supreme Court of India took suo moto cognisance of the case that was filed in the lower courts by Mr Kalia. The court demanded an explanation from the Centre for its inaction in pursuing the matter. There were none. The best argument the minister for external affairs could come up with was a laboured submission about the necessity for exercising res-traint on the issue of India’s dead soldiers in order to improve relations with Pakistan.
In the eagerness to “forgive and forget” and begin a new era of India-Pakistan friendship, Prime Minister Vajpayee had readily accepted the glib assurances of Nawaz Sharif, his Pakistani counterpart, that Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the then Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army, had kept his own PM in the dark about the Kargil offensive.
Capt. Kalia’s case highlights the propensity of the Pakistan Army to torture and murder kafir PoWs. This was also highlighted by the now forgotten tragedy of Second Lieutenant Sam Chandravarkar, and the ambush at Kushtia during the closing days of the Bangladesh war in 1971.
For the record, the 22 Rajput Regiment had entered the Kushtia town in Bangladesh with a squadron (14 tanks) of light amphibious PT-76 tanks in hot pursuit of a withdrawing column of the Pakistan Army.
The lead elements of the pursuing Indian forces were ambushed as they were negotiating through the town, and suffered substantial casualties. Lt. Chandravarkar, the leading tank troop leader, was wounded and captured along with some other members of his crew as also some wounded troops of 22 Rajput. The Indian prisoners were bayoneted to death by their captors, who were later identified as soldiers from 18 Punjab Regiment of the Pakistan Army. The Indian unit arrived on the scene immediately thereafter and the stage seemed set for summary “battlefield justice” by the Indian soldiers, who were inflamed by the mutilated bodies of their comrades, and had to be restrained by their officers.
Whether in the context of Capt. Kalia or 2/Lt. Chandravarkar, mutilation and murder of PoWs by the Pakistan Army is nothing new. So the suggestions by Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik when he visited India in December 2012 about the likely cause of death of Capt. Kalia as being from a fall, and the gruesome mutilation of the bodies possibly by birds or wild animals are disingenuous to say the least. These are probably attempts at deliberate obfuscation.
Peace with Pakistan is a chimera, which India has wasted enough time and effort in pursuing. Even at this belated stage, India must find the time and make the effort of lodging charges of war crimes against Pakistan at the International Court of Justice. This will be the best way to pay tribute to Capt. Kalia and five other soldiers.
The writer is a former Chief of Army Staff and a former member of Parliament
