In reply to first commander-in-chief of the Indian armed forces, General Sir Robert Lockhart, just after Independence when Lockhart presented a plan for growth of Indian Army, Pandit Nehru said: "We don't need a defence plan. Our policy is non-violence. We foresee no military threats. You can scrap the army. The police are good enough to meet our security needs." Within a year, the strength of Army personnel had been reduced in half. *********** "Your views will be communicated to Pranab Mukherjee", said Sushma Nath, India's ExpendiureSecretary, and went on to explain how Paramilitary forces had objections of placing Lt. Cols in the Pay Band 4. This made usually very calm and thoroughly professional soldiers very irritated and the Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor lost his cool stating that this is not only a very negative attitude but the Paramilitary forces had absolutely no business commenting on what Army needed and otherwise! ******** After days of fighting and where many a battalions had gone down and only two succeeded to make it up - The 3rd Dogras and 2nd Sikhs were asked to capture Raja and Rani. The Dogras first attacked Raja but had to retreat in the face of stiff enemy opposition and the fact that the position was located at a considerable height. Word went around that the mighty Dogras had lost their nerve. Our commanding officer (CO), Lt. Col. R.B. Nair, was so upset that he did not eat food for two days. Other officers asked Lt. Col. Nair to give them another chance. Lt. Col. Nair agreed. After performing a havan, I and the 2nd Sikh's CO, Lt. Col. Khanna, wished each other luck. That was the last I saw him alive. We traversed up to 7000 feet. The Dogras started moving up towards Rani picket through thickets while the Sikhs started moving towards Raja braving mines. At night, our artillery in Poonch started pounding the positions to soften the enemy located on top of the mountains. The atmosphere was soon rendered with war cries. The Dogras charged and reached the pickets. Hand-to-hand fight ensued. The Pakistanis fought bravely. The Dogras got the picket. The Sikhs, however, lost their nerve and started retreating, angering their CO, Lt. Col. Khanna. With his revolver out, he started marching up. A stray bullet killed him. At this, the Sikhs were enraged. They once again attacked the picket, and captured it. The casualty evacuation started. A Captain had received bullets shattering both his thighs. A jawan's jaw was shattered with lower jaw hanging out. Soon, there other injured soldiers, a total of 200 soldiers, came one after another. Soon, we ran out of morphine injections. But the day was saved by Poonch's civilians, who came with cots to carry the wounded down. This was the first major victory in this sector. But at what cost? We had suffered heavy casualties. And then the soldiers were asked to vacate the post. Many soldiers cried inconsolably and hugged the rocks and would not leave. The entire effort - the going against the line of fire with nothing in between.. and dying by the hundreds and thousands and walking into absolutely sure death! And when they had done the impossible.... one politician without any eye to practicality and any strength in his heart bartered it away. Or was he betrayed by his very own!! Lal Bahadur Shastri was not the only one who was betrayed! So were those many who had died without any ego or identity! How was the betrayal done? Read more