Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Indian Army Sikhs in Pakistani Wars

I am proud to be a Sikh. The following excerpts from a Pakistani General Maj General Fazal Muqeem Khan sketches a portrait of brave Sikhs. I am fortunate to put it on record that while on the Western Sector my first cousin Retd. Lt. General Arjun Singh Khanna and Deputy Chief of Indian Army was fighting bravely at the border. And on the eastern front Shilpy's Dad now Retd. Major General Harkirat Singh was confronting Pakistani forces along with Mukti Bahini.

Maj. Gen. Fazal Muqeem Khan, author of book "Pakistan's Crisis of Leadership"

Subject: Portrait of Bravery of Sikhs of the INDIAN ARMY


He wrote about the bravery of the Sikh soldiers during the Indo-Pak war. Here are some excerpts:
...
“The major reason for our defeat are Sikhs. We are simply unable to do anything before them despite our best efforts. They are very daring people & are fond of martyrdom. They fight courageously & are capable of defeating an army much bi...gger than them.”

On 3rd December 1971, we fiercely and vigorously attacked the Indian army with infantry brigade near Hussainiwala border. This brigade included Pakistan army’s Punjab regiment together with the Baloch regiment. Within minutes we pushed the Indian army quite far back. Their defense posts fell under our control.
The INDIAN ARMY was retreating back very fast & the Pakistani army was going forward with great speed. Our army reached near Kausre-Hind post (Kasure). There was small segment of Indian army appointed to defend that post & their soldiers belonged to the Sikh Regiment. A few number of the Sikh Regiment stopped our way forward like an iron wall. They greeted us with the ovation (Slogan) of ‘Bole-so-Nihal’ and attacked us like blood thirsty, hungry lions and hawks. All these soldiers were Sikhs.There was
even a dreadful hand-to-hand battle.
The sky filled with roars of ‘Yaa Ali and Sat Sri Akal’. Even in this hand-to-hand fighting the Sikhs fought so bravely that all our desires, aspirations & dreams were shattered. In this war Lt. Col. Gulab Hussain was killed, with him Maj. Mohammed Zaeef & Capt. Arif Alim also died. It was difficult to count the number of soldiers who got killed. We were astonished to see the courage of those, handful of Sikh soldiers.

When we seized the possession of the three-story defense post of concrete, the Sikh soldiers went onto the roof & kept on persistently opposing us.The whole night they kept on showering fires on us & continued shouting the loud ovation of ‘Bole So Nihaal, Sat Sri Akal’. These Sikh soldiers kept on the encounter till next day.Next day the Pakistani tanks surrounded this post and bombed it with guns. Those, handful of Sikhs got martyred in this encounter while resisting us, but other Sikh soldiers then destroyed our tanks with the help of their artillery. Fighting with great bravery they kept on marching forward and thus our army lost its foothold.

Alas! A handful of Sikhs converted our great victory into big defeat & shattered our confidence & courage. The same thing
happened with us in Dhaka, Bangladesh.In the battle of Jassur, the Sikhs opposed the Pakistan army so fiercely that our backbone & our foothold were lost. This became the most important reason of our defeat; & Sikhs’ strength, safety & honour of the country,

became the sole cause of their victory."Maj. Gen. Fazal Muqeem Khan, author of book "Pakistan's Crisis of Leadership"

Subject: Portrait of Bravery of Sikhs of the INDIAN ARMY


He wrote about the bravery of the Sikh soldiers during the Indo-Pak war. Here are some excerpts:
...
“The major reason for our defeat are Sikhs. We are simply unable to do anything before them despite our best efforts. They are very daring people & are fond of martyrdom. They fight courageously & are capable of defeating an army much bi...gger than them.”

On 3rd December 1971, we fiercely and vigorously attacked the Indian army with infantry brigade near Hussainiwala border. This brigade included Pakistan army’s Punjab regiment together with the Baloch regiment. Within minutes we pushed the Indian army quite far back. Their defense posts fell under our control.
The INDIAN ARMY was retreating back very fast & the Pakistani army was going forward with great speed. Our army reached near Kausre-Hind post (Kasure). There was small segment of Indian army appointed to defend that post & their soldiers belonged to the Sikh Regiment. A few number of the Sikh Regiment stopped our way forward like an iron wall. They greeted us with the ovation (Slogan) of ‘Bole-so-Nihal’ and attacked us like blood thirsty, hungry lions and hawks. All these soldiers were Sikhs.There was
even a dreadful hand-to-hand battle.
The sky filled with roars of ‘Yaa Ali and Sat Sri Akal’. Even in this hand-to-hand fighting the Sikhs fought so bravely that all our desires, aspirations & dreams were shattered. In this war Lt. Col. Gulab Hussain was killed, with him Maj. Mohammed Zaeef & Capt. Arif Alim also died. It was difficult to count the number of soldiers who got killed. We were astonished to see the courage of those, handful of Sikh soldiers.

When we seized the possession of the three-story defense post of concrete, the Sikh soldiers went onto the roof & kept on persistently opposing us.The whole night they kept on showering fires on us & continued shouting the loud ovation of ‘Bole So Nihaal, Sat Sri Akal’. These Sikh soldiers kept on the encounter till next day.Next day the Pakistani tanks surrounded this post and bombed it with guns. Those, handful of Sikhs got martyred in this encounter while resisting us, but other Sikh soldiers then destroyed our tanks with the help of their artillery. Fighting with great bravery they kept on marching forward and thus our army lost its foothold.

Alas! A handful of Sikhs converted our great victory into big defeat & shattered our confidence & courage. The same thing
happened with us in Dhaka, Bangladesh.In the battle of Jassur, the Sikhs opposed the Pakistan army so fiercely that our backbone & our foothold were lost. This became the most important reason of our defeat; & Sikhs’ strength, safety & honour of the country,
became the sole cause of their victory."

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