Arshid Rasool
It was 3rd of May 1999, a shepherd came running to the army camp in Kargil and claimed
to have seen few individuals who are not locals, wearing pathani attire and few of them
carrying gun also. The shepherd was not aware of the fact that this mere information is
going to turn into one of the miraculous wars of all the times where the gallant actions
witnessed by the world were unimaginable. The terrain where war was fought is
completely inhospitable and rugged having peaks which are beyond human effort to climb
in normal days. However, those peaks were not only scaled and captured but in
unbelievable time frames by the soldiers possessing beyond imaginable courage and
undaunted bravery and were nothing less than supernatural Heroes. Major Saurabh Kalia
along-with his team went on reconnaissance mission to locate the intruders where whole
petrol went missing and this was the trigger which awakens the defence forces. By the
time it was realised that the intrusion was fully supported by Pak army, many important
heights in Kargil and Drass sectors were already in enemy’s hold to include Tololing top-
dominating NH1D, Tiger Hill and Point 4875 and many more. The turning point in the war
was the capture of Tololing in which many heroes laid down their lives to include Major
Rajesh Adhikari, MVC(Posthumously), Major Vivek Gupta, MVC (Posthumously), Naik
Digendra Kumar, MVC(Posthumously) and this list goes till 23 martyrs contributed their
lives in turning the tides towards us in the war. The capture of point 4875 in Mushkoh
Valley was again an example of raw courage and conspicuous bravery. Captain Vikram
Batra, PVC (Posthumously), Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, PVC besides every soldier played
the heroic role in such inhuman weather conditions in capturing point 4875 which ensured
the upper hand for India in Kargil War. On the other hand, capture of Tiger Hill almost
ensured the win for India in which enemy sitting on the heights of more than 5000 m were
astounded by the heroic deeds of Major Ravinder Singh, Grenadier Yogendra Singh
Yadav, PVC and many more faces of gallants who have turned this unfeasible task in the
face of the enemy.
The quantification of battles and heroes in Kargil war would be left unjustified in one
article, as the list goes endless for all those who sacrificed their lives for the country. In-
fact, we shouldn’t have second thought in saying that each and every soul participated in
the war are the real Heroes of OP Vijay. Besides, the soldiers fought in Operation Safed
Sagar launched by Indian Air Force and Operation Talwar launched by Indian Navy has
also played heroes in the battles of Kargil War. The list of heroes doesn’t end with the
names of those who were in uniform, rather there are many unsung personalities whose
name didn’t appear on any piece of paper but the contribution made by them played vital
role in concluding the war to our favour. The involvement and contribution in shaping the
battle globally by the ambassadors sitting in UN shouldn’t go unrecognised. These acts
also played decisive role in the flow of the battle which makes those ambassadors nothing
less than Heroes of that war. As there is a saying that “besides defeating enemy on
ground, they must be defeated in their mind”, that task was considerably performed by our
media during Kargil War. As per many analysts, Indian media, being larger and credible
than adversary’s media, played as force multiplier for not only the soldiers fighting the war
but for the whole nation. The real-time telecast of the war definitely acted as morale
booster for the country and affecting adversely to our neighbour. Therefore, media is also
considered as one of the Heroes of Kargil War. “Every small step counts in submitting the
peak”, apart from the participants from main streams in the war, there were few villagers
whose contributions can’t go unobserved. It was a mere villager, a shepherd Mr. Tashi
Namgyal, who reported the first information about infiltration which helped Indian army to
react in time.
Besides, the individuals of the abandoned villages were willingly helping Indian army in
establishing administration camps. Therefore, these villagers and the shepherd are also
considered as real Heroes of the war. In a war of its own kind like Kargil, where two
countries with nuclear weapons indulged into conventional war, there can’t be set
parameters based on which the Heroes of the War can be defined. Certainly, the acts of
bravery performed by our soldiers were miraculous and are second to none, still, when it
comes on bracketing the heroes of this war, it can only be justified by considering that
every single soul who were part of the war directly or indirectly are
