Page 18 - Seniors Today - May21 Issue

it was this road (Srinagar–Kargil–Leh the lower Suru valley. The locals in that
spanning 434 kms) which was the lifeline
for all civilian and military traffic.
Pakistan could never get over the fact
that India had occupied the heights of
the Siachen glacier and has remained in
control since then. Prior to 1984, neither
India nor Pakistan had any permanent
presence in the area of Siachen. Most of the
Siachen Glacier as is the LoC, a disputed
territory between India and Pakistan.
Located in one of the most strategic areas
of the Karakoram range, it was very
important for India to gain control of
this area to monitor the activities of the
Pakistan and China. Pakistan has illegally
occupied large swaths of Kashmir and
in fact has further ceded a large area to
China. The Siachen glacier overlooks
that area and so it very important from
a military standpoint. The occupation of
heights of Kargil and Dras was planned
so as to take control of the road leading to
Siachen and thus choke India.
The road below is clearly visible from
these heights and hence traffic can easily
be disrupted. Basically they wanted to take
control of Siachen by enforcing a blockade
of this road.
Tashi Namgyal - a local Yak herder, was
minding his herd on the morning of May
3 in the barren mountain slope high up in
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area have very little means of lively hood
and are mostly army contractors carrying
supplies from the base to the various
picquet’s dotting these high mountains
all along the border. They knew the entire
area very well. This is the area between
Kargil and Dras which is very close to the
LoC. It was here when Tashi lost track of
one Yak and while scanning the area with
his binoculars to find it, was dismayed to
see some men in alien tribal attire (wearing
a Shalwar Kameez) walking high up on the
slopes. He sensed that these people were
from across the border as the locals never
dressed like this and the only other people
that far up on the hills were the Indian
army who would never be in anything but
their khakis. Tashi followed these people
from a safe distance and when he came
closer found that they had weapons too.
Being very suspicious, he decided that this
needed to be reported back to the army
authorities and ran back to the nearest
post.
His report was found to be accurate and
the result was that Operation Vijay of
the Indian army was launched resulting
in flushing out the Pakistanis. It was
proved that the Pakistani Army was
masquerading as the tribals – a strategy
they had used in 1947 and then again in
1965 and yet again in 1971. It was not the
first time and I am sure it will not be the
last time.
Unfortunately, Tashi never did get any
recognition in terms of any awards or
rewards from the Indian Government. The
Army though did recognise his efforts and
helped him and his family in any way that
it could. Fortunately, the real heroes don’t
care about rewards and awards.
JAI HIND !