He took the news quietly, and when I spoke to him over the phone on Wednesday afternoon, I couldn’t figure what he was feeling. Joy? Disbelief? A bit of both I think. Wednesday was undoubtedly one of the most important days for Kargil war hero Brigadier Devinder Singh, former 70 Brigade commander who famously led the assault on Point 5203 and the Jubar Complex in Batalik Sector during the Kargil war. After a decade of battling an insidious system that made every attempt to falsify his record, deny him rightful war-time decorations and a promotion, fudge war reports and even infuse naked falsehoods into the official history of the Kargil War, Brigadier Singh has finally won his hard-fought case against the Army and the government. On Wednesday, the Armed Forces Tribunal upheld his petition, expunging several pieces of falsehood that fully misrepresented his performance during the war — falsehoods at the behest of then 15 Corps commander Lt Gen Kishan Pal, a man who should now be on the block for lying on official documents. Brigadier Singh’s victory could open a huge can of worms over the highly controversial records of the Kargil War, including its official history, which remains classified to this day. The verdict proves that a lot of other truths about the war may be lost for ever.
Hmm. Now i know why there is a shortage of :
Honor.
Dignity.
Courage.
A few Good Men.
What's happening to Indian army day after day its falling into various scams.Ashamed of the Indian army. Few more instances such as these people of India would loose their faith in their armed forces. No doubt our youth don't want to join the armed force
Raj karega Khalsa! Wahe guru da Khalsa, wahe guru de fateh.
Truths of the 1965 war too which prompted my old man to quit the army, disillusioned by the lustrous tag of being the finest, most disciplined and cleanest organization ever in the whole nation. Not to forget, the constant influx of Paki infiltrators who settled down in the valley as the armed forces were asked to look the other way.
I am not willing to believe any part of the Kargil stories. These stories are constantly evolving and the carcass is being chewed steadily for partisan interests.
One of the major reasons for disbelief is Mr. Singh's claim that in a war game at that time he postulated the Kargil scenario.
Mr. Singh appears to be a man of grit and gumption – braving all odds and the system to cleanse his record. Why did he not speak out to the media when the army top brass failed to heed his warnings? Does his love for his reputation override his patriotic duty to the nation?
Over the years, the Kargil victory has been attributed to the courage of the Tibetans, then the Gorkhas, then the Jats, then the Israelis, and so on.
It is a sordid chapter of Indian military that Indians got caught napping and failed to take corrective action quickly because of lack of preparations ahead of time.
It is nice to see history revised selectively after decades. Maybe years from now we will learn that we won the Hockey World Cup held in Delhi this year 2010.
I wish Mr. Pal good fortune and his family my sympathies – as they have now become goats while Mr. Singh gets accolades and paeans.
A very welcome move. This should have happened years earlier….
Satyameva Jayate
Not going into the details of the case….
but it is commendable that the tribunal could and did take such a bold action…….[maybe it has in the past too]….has changed a lot of perceptions…..
Singh Is always king.BOLE SO NIHAL , SAT SHREE AKAL
It is heartening to see the Army correcting such an egregious wrong. Heroes like Devender Singh should be celebrated and help up as examples for the rest to follow.
Quite shocking actually, that a General can wantonly discredit his subordinate and the army higher-ups were unable to correct the transgression. It took 10 years for justice to be done. Shameful! Read the story here:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/top-commander-fudged-kargil-war-records/624445/
Kargil is classified as victory by us but its a matter of shame rather then any victory. We after a failure have got this habit of defining words according to our benefit. Pakistan army captured several peaks few of which are still with them. After losing several hundreds of defence personnel and building pressure through Bill Clinton we managed to vacate them. We also spent crores of rupees in the process. is this victory? What were these personnels doing when Pakistan army built bunkers? Did we took any action against guilty defence personnels? Of course in trying to bluff the citizens of our country we did nothing.
Kargil is biggest shame for us. What has this or matter of fact any other officer done? If Bill Clinton woul not have pressurised Pakistan then we would have lost more soldiers. Of course we would have the other option of counter attacking them from anotgher frontier for which they were prepared too.
For God's sake please stop this false pride.
Well its a big blow to Major Kishan Pal who was spotted playing golf when the bodies were coming one after another. The bigger question is who is accountable for not patrolling in winters. At the end of the day you would have to make someone accountable for the misdeeds. Is it General Pal or some other officers? Another officer Brigadier Surinder Singh was ciourtmartialled but was he one among many others who ecsaped or was he made scapegoat. This is a blow for army.