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Bow in reverence: Fathers pay tribute to their martyred sons a day before Kargil Vijay Diwas
NK Kalia and GL Batra fathers of Kargil martyrs Captain Saurabh Kalia and Captain Vikram Batra paid tributes to their sons a day before Kargil Vijay Diwas
As the country gets ready to mark Kargil Vijay Diwas on July 26, fathers of the martyred Indian soldiers have been commemorating the sacrifices their sons made for the nation. NK Kalia, the father of Kargil martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia, paid his respects to the many martyrs like his son and insisted that the government didn’t punish the Pakistani army adequately for the brutal torture they inflicted on Indian soldiers.
“I bow my head in reverence to martyrs who gave their lives for the nation. The government's steps weren't sufficient for Pakistan Army's brutal torture. India should raise this issue on an international level,” Kalia told ANI.
Captain Saurabh Kalia of the 4 Jat Regiment was just 22 years old when he and five others were captured on May 15, 1999, by the Pakistani army on a reconnaissance off Bajrang Post in the Kaksar sector of Jammu and Kashmir, where they had gone to investigate reports of incursion. Despite being prisoners of war they were subjected to torture by the Pakistani army contrary to all international conventions on war.
Kalia, a retired scientist who worked with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), received his son’s mutilated body on June 10 and vowed to fight against war crimes “Eyes punctured, eardrums pierced, vital organs chopped off and body bearing burn marks. I had never heard or seen such brutality,” he had told Hindustan Times.
“The day he returned home wrapped in the tricolour, I vowed to fight for justice against war crimes. Whether we achieve success or not, this war will end with our death,” said Kalia.
Kalia, now well in his 70s, continued to fight for his cause and moved the Supreme Court in 2012, seeking direction to the Centre to take up his son’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Centre told the court in 2015 that since this was a bilateral issue between two countries, Pakistan’s consent was needed. The matter is now pending and has not been listed for hearing yet.
He continues his fight for justice even today.“Successive governments have failed to do what should have been done back in 1999. Still we are thankful for what they have done for our cause and do not regret what they [haven’t done],” he said on Kargil Vijay Diwas in 2019.
“My fight is not only for Saurabh or the five soldiers but for the respect and honour of the Indian Armed Forces,” he added.
GL Batra, the father of late Captain Vikram Batra, told news agency ANI that the country should focus on “troublemaking neighbours” and be ready to sacrifice for the nation. “Government has fulfilled all commitments made during (Kargil) war. The Kargil war was one of the toughest wars in the world. We should be aware of trouble-making neighbours and be ready to make sacrifices for the nation,” ANI said quoting Batra.
Captain Batra was just 24 when he was martyred fighting the Kargil war. He was given the highest wartime gallantry award Param Vir Chakra posthumously, his father received the honour for his deceased son. He was the driving force in Operation Vijay and the capture of the crucial peak - Point 4875, one of his most difficult feats.
