Kargil Is Not Just A Story Of Winning, It's A Story Of Pain With Pride!

Remembering the gallant efforts and sacrifices of the Indian Armed Forces.

Illustration From Behance By Ravichandra Gopalakrishnan

Namaste.

July 26, It was on this day 22 years ago that the Indian Army recaptured all the Indian posts in Kargil that had been occupied by Pakistan's army. Since then, July 26 has been observed annually to commemorate the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers in this war. As we celebrate the 23rd ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’ on 26 July, we pay homage to the 527 Indian soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice, while that on the Pakistani side was between 357 and 453.

In 1998-1999 during the winters, the Pakistani Army secretly started training and sending troops near Kargil to dominate the region with the goal of claiming Siachen Glacier. They wanted international attention on the dispute so that pressure could be generated on the Indian army to withdraw its army from the Siachen Glacier region and force India to negotiate for the Kashmir dispute.

It began with the infiltration of both Pakistani troops and terrorists under the 'Operation Badri' into the Indian territory. The intruders positioned themselves in key locations that gave them a strategic advantage during the start of the conflict. Based on information from local shepherds, the Indian Army was able to ascertain the points of attack and launched "Operation Vijay". In a war that lasted over 60 days in Ladakh's Kargil, India ousted the neighbouring nation's military forces and took back control of the high outposts in the region.

Some of our fearless commandos who made it for us are Captain Vikram Batra, Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav, Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey, Lieutenant Balwan Singh, Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari, Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, Major Vivek Gupta, Captain N Kenguruse, Lt. Keishing Clifford Nongrum, and Naik Digendra Kumar. The list doesn’t end here; every soldier in the war was a hero.

“Either I will come back after hoisting the tricolour, or I’ll come wrapped in it, but I will be back for sure” - Late Captain Vikram Batra

The IAF for ground attack, used planes MiG-21s, MiG-23s, MiG-27s, Jaguars, and the Mirage-2000. Mainly, for air interception with a secondary role of ground attack, MiG-21 was built. About two lakh fifty thousand shells, bombs, and rockets were fired. Approximately 5,000 artillery shells, mortar bombs, and rockets were fired daily from 300 guns, mortars, and MBRLs while 9,000 shells were fired the day Tiger Hill was regained.

This caused a major loss on both sides, thousands of soldiers got martyred. Just like any war, the result of the Kargil was also calamitous. Many fathers and mothers lost their sons, many children lost their fathers, many wives lost their husbands, many lost their best friends, and India lost many valiant soldiers.

Let’s pay our admiration to our courageous soldiers who devoted themselves to saving our lives from enemies.

Lemme know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!

Jai Hind.