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Posted by admin in HEROES OF PAKISTAN on November 15th, 2013
Two days later, on 15 April, demonstrations occurred in Gujranwala
protesting the killings at Amritsar. Police and aircraft were used against the demonstrators, resulting in 12 deaths and 27 injuries. The Officer Commanding the Royal Air Force
in India, Brigadier General N D K MacEwen
stated later that:
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I think we can fairly claim to have been of great use in the late riots, particularly at Gujranwala, where the crowd when looking at its nastiest was absolutely dispersed by a machine using bombs and Lewis guns. |
See also: Udham Singh
On 13 March 1940, at Caxton Hall in London, Udham Singh
an Indian independence activist from Sunam who had witnessed the events in Amritsar and was himself wounded, shot and killed Michael O’Dwyer, the British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab at the time of the massacre, who had approved Dyer’s action and was believed to be the main planner. Dyer himself had died in 1927.
Michael O’Dwyer
Will the historians of the future have to record that it was not the Nazis
but the British ruling class which destroyed the British Empire?” Singh had told the court at his trial:
Wide view of Jallianwala Bagh
Memorial
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I did it because I had a grudge against him. He deserved it. He was the real culprit. He wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I have crushed him. For full 21 years, I have been trying to wreak vengeance. I am happy that I have done the job. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country. I have seen my people starving in India under the British rule. I have protested against this, it was my duty. What a greater honour could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland? |
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Although Queen Elizabeth II
had not made any comments on the incident during her state visits in 1961 and 1983, she spoke about the events at a state banquet in India
on 13 October 1997:
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It is no secret that there have been some difficult episodes in our past – Jallianwala Bagh, which I shall visit tomorrow, is a distressing example. But history cannot be rewritten, however much we might sometimes wish otherwise. It has its moments of sadness, as well as gladness. We must learn from the sadness and build on the gladness. |
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On 14 October 1997 Queen Elizabeth II visited Jallianwala Bagh and paid her respects with a 30‑second moment of silence
. She removed her shoes while visiting the monument and laid a wreath at the monument.
While some Indians welcomed the expression of regret and sadness in the Queen’s statement, others criticised it for being less than an apology.
Prime Minister of India Inder Kumar Gujral defended the Queen, saying that the Queen herself had not even been born at the time of the events and should not be required to apologies .
Winston Churchill, on the 8th July 1920, urged the House of Commons to punish General Dyer.Churchill succeeded in persuading the House to forcibly retire General Dyer, but Churchill would have preferred to see the general disciplined.
In February 2013 David Cameron became the first serving British Prime Minister to visit the site, laid a wreath at the memorial, and described the Amritsar massacre as “a deeply shameful event in British history, one that Winston Churchill rightly described at that time as monstrous. We must never forget what happened here and we must ensure that the UK stands up for the right of peaceful protests”. Cameron did not deliver an official apology.
“The incident in Jallian Wala Bagh was ‘an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation”…Winston Churchill
It started a few months after the end of the first world war when an Englishwoman, a missionary, reported that she had been molested on a street in the Punjab city of Amritsar. The Raj’s local commander, Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, issued an order requiring all Indians using that street to crawl its length on their hands and knees. He also authorized the indiscriminate, public whipping of natives who came within lathi length of British policemen.
On April 13, 1919, a multitude of Punjabis gathered in Amritsar’s Jallian wala Bagh as part of the Sikh Festival “Baisakhi fair” and to protest at these extraordinary measures. The throng, penned in a narrow space smaller than Trafalgar Square, had been peacefully listening to the testimony of victims when Dyer appeared at the head of a contingent of British troops. Giving no word of warning, he ordered 50 soldiers to fire into the gathering, and for 10 to 15 minutes 1,650 rounds of ammunition were unloaded into the screaming, terrified crowd, some of whom were trampled by those desperately trying to escape.
“The Indians were ‘packed together so that one bullet would drive through three or four bodies’; the people ‘ran madly this way and the other. When fire was directed upon the centre, they ran to the sides. The fire was then directed to the sides. Many threw themselves down on the ground, and the fire was then directed on the ground. This was continued for eight or ten minutes, and it stopped only when the ammunition had reached the point of exhaustion”…..Winston Churchill
Dyer then marched away, leaving 379 dead and over 1,500 wounded.
Back in his headquarters, he reported to his superiors that he had been ‘confronted by a revolutionary army,’ and had been obliged ‘to teach a moral lesson to the Punjab.’ In the storm of outrage which followed, the brigadier was promoted to major general, retired, and placed on the inactive list.
”I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself.” ……Dyer’s response to the Hunter Commission Enquiry
General Dyer said he would have used his machine guns if he could have got them into the enclosure, but these were mounted on armoured cars. He said he did not stop firing when the crowd began to disperse because he thought it was his duty to keep firing until the crowd dispersed, and that a little firing would do no good.
He confessed he did not take any steps to attend to the wounded after the firing. ”Certainly not. It was not my job. Hospitals were open and they could have gone there,” came his pathetic response.
However, the misery suffered by the people was reflected in Rattan Devi’s account. She was forced to keep a nightlong vigil, armed with a bamboo stick to protect her husband’s body from jackals and vultures. Curfew with shoot-at-sight orders had been imposed from 2000 hours that night.
Rattan Devi stated, ”I saw three men writhing in great pain and a boy of about 12. I could not leave the place. The boy asked me for water but there was no water in that place. At 2 am, a Jat who was lying entangled on the wall asked me to raise his leg. I went up to him and took hold of his clothes drenched in blood and raised him up. Heaps of bodies lay there, a number of them innocent children. I shall never forget the sight. I spent the night crying and watching…”
General Dyer admitted before the commission that he came to know about the meeting at Jallianwala Bagh at 1240 hours that day, but took no steps to prevent it. He also admitted in his deposition that the gathering at the Bagh was not a concentration only of rebels, but people who had covered long distances to participate in the Baisakhi fair.
This incredibly, made him a martyr to millions of Englishmen. Senior British officers applauded his suppression of ‘another Indian Mutiny.’ The Guardians of the Golden Temple enrolled him in the Brotherhood of Sikhs. The House of Lords passed a measure commending him. The Conservatives presented him with a jewelled sword inscribed “Saviour of the Punjab.”
A young Sikh teenager who was being raised at Khalsa Orphanage named Udham Singh
(aka Mohammad Singh Azad) saw the happening with his own eyes. He vowed to avenge the Amritsar massacre.
On 13 March 1940 at 4.30 p.m. in the Caxton Hall, London, where a meeting of the East India Association was being held in conjunction with the Royal Central Asian Society, Udham Singh fired five to six shots from his pistol at Sir Michael O’Dwyer, who was governor of the Punjab when the Amritsar Massacre had taken place, to avenge the massacre.
On the 31st July, 1940, Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville jail, London
“He was the real culprit. He deserved it. He wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I [had to] crush him.” Udham Singh, telling the trial court why he killed Michael O’Dwyer.
Listen to the shaheed song – “Jallian Wala Bagh” in honour of the sacrifices made by Amritsar to set India free. Click on play on the media player below.
There was an uneasy calm in the city on 11 April. In the evening that day, Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer (b. 1864, ironically at Murree in the Punjab), commander 45th Infantry Brigade at Jalandhar, arrived in Amritsar. He immediately established file facto army rule, though the official proclamation to this effect was not made until 15 April. The troops at his disposal included 475 British and 710 Indian soldiers.
Local leaders called upon the people to assemble for a meeting in the Jallianwala Bagh at 4.30 in the evening. Brigadier-General Dyer set out for the venue of the meeting at 4.30 with 50 riflemen and two armored cars with machine guns mounted on them. Meanwhile, the meeting had gone on peacefully, and two resolutions, one calling for the repeal of the Rowlett Act and the other condemning the firing on 10 April, had been passed. A third resolution protesting against the general repressive policy of the government was being proposed when Dyer arrived at about 5.15 p.m. He deployed his riflemen on an elevation near the entrance and without warning or ordering the crowd to disperse, opened fire. The firing continued for about 20 minutes where after Dyer and his men marched back the way they had come. 1650 rounds of .303-inch ammunition had been fired. Dyer’s own estimate of the killed based on his rough calculations of one dead per six bullets fired was between 200 and 300. The official figures were 379 killed and 1200 wounded.
According to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, who personally collected information with a view to raising the issue in the Central Legislative Council, over 1,000 were killed. The total crowd was estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000, Sikhs comprising a large proportion of them.
The 1919 Amritsar massacre, known alternatively as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, was ordered by General R.E.H. Dyer. On Sunday April 13, 1919, which happened to be ‘Baisakhi’, one of Punjab’s largest religious festivals, fifty British Indian Army soldiers, commanded by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, began shooting at an unarmed gathering of men, women, and children without warning. Dyer marched his fifty riflemen to a raised bank and ordered them to kneel and fire. Dyer ordered soldiers to reload their rifles several times and they were ordered to shoot to kill. Official British Raj sources estimated the fatalities at 379, and with 1,100 wounded. Civil Surgeon Dr Williams DeeMeddy indicated that there were 1,526 casualties. However, the casualty number quoted by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500, with roughly 1,000 killed.
On April 13, the holiday of Baisakhi, thousands of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh (garden) near the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. Baisakhi is a Sikh festival, commemorating the day that Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699, and also known as the ‘Birth of Khalsa.’ During this time people celebrate by congregating in religious and community fairs, and there may have been a large number who were unaware of the political meeting.
The Jallianwalla Bagh during 1919, months after the massacre.
“The Martyrs’ Well” at Jallianwala Bagh.
Cartoon in Punch 14 July 1920, on the occasion of Montagu labelling as “frightful” General Dyer for his role in the Amritsar massacreAn hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 4:30 pm, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer marched a group of sixty-five Gurkha and twenty-five Baluchi soldiers into the Bagh, fifty of whom were armed with rifles. Dyer had also brought two armoured cars armed with machine guns, however the vehicles were stationed outside the main gate as they were unable to enter the Bagh through the narrow entrance.
The Jallianwala Bagh was bounded on all sides by houses and buildings and had few narrow entrances, most of which were kept permanently locked. The main entrance was relatively wider, but was guarded by the troops backed by the armoured vehicles. General Dyer ordered troops to begin shooting without warning or any order to disperse, and to direct shooting towards the densest sections of the crowd. He continued the shooting, approximately 1,650 rounds in all, until ammunition was almost exhausted.
Apart from the many deaths directly from the shooting, a number of people died in stampedes at the narrow gates or by jumping into the solitary well on the compound to escape the shooting. A plaque in the monument at the site, set up after independence, says that 120 bodies were pulled out of the well.
The wounded could not be moved from where they had fallen, as a curfew had been declared – many more died during the night.
The number of deaths caused by the shooting is disputed. While the official figure given by the British inquiry into the massacre is 379 deaths, the method used by the inquiry has been subject to criticism.[by whom?] Officials were tasked with finding who had been killed during July 1919, three months after the massacre, by inviting inhabitants of the city to volunteer information about those who had died. This information was likely incomplete due to fear that those who participated would be identified as having been present at the meeting, and some of the dead may not have had close relations in the area. Additionally, a senior civil servant in the Punjab interviewed by the members of the committee admitted that the actual figure could be higher.
Since the official figures were likely flawed considering the size of the crowd (15,000-20,000), number of rounds shot and period of shooting, the politically interested Indian National Congress instituted a separate inquiry of its own, with conclusions that differed considerably from the Government’s. The casualty number quoted by the INC was more than 1,500, with approximately 1,000 killed.] Despite the Government’s best efforts to suppress information of the massacre, news spread elsewhere in India and widespread outrage ensued; however, the details of the massacre did not become known in Britain until December 1919.
As per regimental diaries kept by the Gorkha Battalion adjutants in the British Indian Army, the plan to attack the gathering in Amritsar was claimed to have been triggered by the news of a mob attack on a British school teacher Sherwood on April 9, which was later shown to be merely an excuse used by an incensed Dyer who commanded a brigade in nearby Jalandhar and the Lt Governor of Punjab Michael O’Dwyer who were convinced that they faced an imminent threat of mutiny in Punjab on the scale of 1857.
Back in his headquarters, General Dyer reported to his superiors that he had been “confronted by a revolutionary army”.
In a telegram sent to Dyer, British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O’Dwyer wrote: “Your action is correct. Lieutenant Governor approves.”
O’Dwyer requested that martial law be imposed upon Amritsar and other areas; this was granted by the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, after the massacre. The “crawling order” was posted on Aug 19 under the auspices of martial law.
Dyer was messaged to appear before the Hunter Commission, a commission of inquiry into the massacre that was ordered to convene by Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, during late 1919. Dyer said before the commission that he came to know about the meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh at 12:40 hours that day but did not attempt to prevent it. He stated that he had gone to the Bagh with the deliberate intention of opening fire if he found a crowd assembled there.
“I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself.” — Dyer’s response to the Hunter Commission Enquiry.
Dyer said he would have used his machine guns if he could have got them into the enclosure, but these were mounted on armoured cars. He said he did not stop the shooting when the crowd began to disperse because he thought it was his duty to keep shooting until the crowd dispersed, and that a little shooting would not do any good. In fact he continued the shooting till the ammunition was almost exhausted.
He stated that he did not make any effort to tend to the wounded after the shooting: “Certainly not. It was not my job. Hospitals were open and they could have gone there.”
The Hunter Commission did not award any penal nor disciplinary action because Dyer’s actions were condoned by various superiors (later upheld by the Army Council). However, he was finally found guilty of a mistaken notion of duty and relieved of his command.
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JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE, involved the killing of hundreds of unarmed, defenseless Indians by a senior British military officer, took place on 13 April 1919 in the heart of Amritsar, the holiest city of the Sikhs, on a day sacred to them as the birth anniversary of the Khalsa. Jallianwala Bagh,. a garden belonging to the Jalla, derives name from that of the owners of this piece of land in Sikh times. It was then the property the family of Sardar Himmat Singh (d.1829), a noble in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839), who originally came from the village of Jalla, now in Fatehgarh Sahib district of the Punjab. The family were collectively known as Jallhevale or simply Jallhe or Jalle, although their principal seat later became Alavarpur in Jalandhar district. The site, once a garden or garden house, was in 1919 an uneven and unoccupied space, an irregular quadrangle, indifferently walled, approximately 225 x 180 meters which was used more as a dumping ground.
In the Punjab, during World War I (1914-18), there was considerable unrest particularly among the Sikhs, first on account of the demolition of a boundary wall of Gurdwara Rikabgang at New Delhi and later because of the activities and trials of the Ghadrites almost all of whom were Sikhs. In India as a whole, too, there had been a spurt in political activity mainly owing to the emergence of two leaders Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi (1869-1948) who after a period of struggle against the British in South Africa, had returned to India in January 1915 and Mrs. Annie Besant (1847-1933), head of the Theosophical Society of India, who established, on 11 April 1916, Home Rule League with autonomy for India as its goal. In December 1916, the Indian National Congress, at its annual session held at Lucknow, passed a resolution asking the British government to issue a proclamation announcing that it is the aim and intention of British policy to confer self government on India at an early date.” At the same time India having Contributed significantly to the British war effort had been expecting advancement of her political interests after the conclusion of hostilities. On the British side, the Secretary of State for India E.S Montagu, announced, on 20 August 1917; the policy of His Majesty’s Government, with which the Government of India are in complete accord, is that of the increasing association of Indians in every branch of administration and the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India …” However, the Viceroy of India Lord Chelmsford, appointed, on 10 December 19l7, a Sedition Committee, popularly known as Rowlett Committee after the name of its chairman, to investigate and report on the nature and extent of the criminal conspiracies connected with the revolutionary movement in India, and to advise as to the legislation necessary to deal with them. Based on the recommendations of this committee, two bills, popularly called Rowlett Bills, were published in the Government of India Gazette on 18 January 1919. Mahatma Gandhi decided to organize a satyagrah, non-violent civil disobedience campaign) against the bills. One of the bills became an Act, nevertheless, on 21 March 1919. Call for a countrywide hartal or general strike on 30 March, later postponed to 6 April 1919, was given by Mahatma Gandhi.
The strike in Lahore and Amritsar passed off peacefully on 6 April. On 9 April, the governor of the Punjab, Sir Michael Francis O’Dwyer (1864-1940), suddenly decided to deport from Amritsar Dr Satyapal and Dr Saif ud-Din Kitchlew, two popular leaders of men. On the same day Mahatma Gandhi’s entry into Punjab was banned under the Defence of India Rules. On 10 April, Satyapal and Kitchlew were called to the deputy commissioner’s residence, arrested and sent off by car to Dharamsetla, a hill town, now in Himachal Pradesh. This led to a general strike in Amritsar. Excited groups of citizens soon merged together into a crowd of about 50,000 marching on to protest to the deputy commissioner against the deportation of the two leaders. The crowd, however, was stopped and fired upon near the railway foot-bridge.
According to the official version, the number of those killed was 12 and of those wounded between 20 and 30. But evidence before the Congress Enquiry Committee put the number of the dead between 20 and 30. As those killed were being carried back through the streets, an angry mob of people went on the rampage. Government offices and banks were attacked and damaged, and five Europeans were beaten to death. One Miss Marcella Sherwood, manager of the City Mission School, who had been living in Amritsar district for 15 years working for the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society, was attacked. The civil authorities, unnerved by the unexpected fury of the mob, called in the army the same afternoon. The ire of the people had by and large spent itself, but a sullen hatred against the British persisted. There was an uneasy calm in the city on 11 April. In the evening that day, Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer (b. 1864, ironically at Murree in the Punjab), commander 45th Infantry Brigade at Jalandhar, arrived in Amritsar. He immediately established file facto army rule, though the official proclamation to this effect was not made until 15 April. The troops at his disposal included 475 British and 710 Indian soldiers. On 12 April he issued an order prohibiting all meetings and gatherings. On 13 April which marked the Baisakhi festival, a large number of people, mostly Sikhs, had poured into the city from the surrounding villages. Local leaders called upon the people to assemble for a meeting in the Jallianwala Bagh at 4.30 in the evening. Brigadier-General Dyer set out for the venue of the meeting at 4.30 with 50 riflemen and two armored cars with machine guns mounted on them. Meanwhile, the meeting had gone on peacefully, and two resolutions, one calling for the repeal of the Rowlett Act and the other condemning the firing on 10 April, had been passed. A third resolution protesting against the general repressive policy of the government was being proposed when Dyer arrived at about 5.15 p.m. He deployed his riflemen on an elevation near the entrance and without warning or ordering the crowd to disperse, opened fire. The firing continued for about 20 minutes where after Dyer and his men marched back the way they had come. 1650 rounds of .303-inch ammunition had been fired. Dyer’s own estimate of the killed based on his rough calculations of one dead per six bullets fired was between 200 and 300. The official figures were 379 killed and 1200 wounded.
According to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, who personally collected information with a view to raising the issue in the Central Legislative Council, over 1,000 were killed. The total crowd was estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000, Sikhs comprising a large proportion of them.
The protest that broke out in the country is exemplified by the renunciation by Rabindranath Tagore of the British Knighthood. In a letter to the Governor General he wrote: “… The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part wish to stand shorn of all special distinctions by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so-called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradations not fit for human beings….” Mass riots erupted in the Punjab and the government had to place five of the districts under martial law. Eventually an enquiry committee was set up. The Disorder Inquiry Committee known as Hunter Committee after its chairman, Lord Hunter, held Brigadier-General R.E.H. Dyer guilty of a mistaken notion of duty, and he was relieved of his command and prematurely retired from the army. The Indian National Congress held its annual session in December 1919 at Amritsar and called upon the British Government to “take early steps to establish a fully responsible government in India in accordance with the principle of self determination.”
The Sikhs formed the All India Sikh League as a representative body of the Panth for political action. The League held its first session in December 1919 at Amritsar simultaneously with the Congress annual convention. The honouring of Brigadier-General Dyer by the priests of Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, led to the intensification of the demand for reforming management of Sikh shrines already being voiced by societies such as the Khalsa Diwan Majha and Central Majha Khalsa Diwan. This resulted in the launching of what came to be known as the Gurdwara Reform movement , 1920-25. Some Sikh servicemen, resenting the policy of non-violence adopted by the leaders of the Akali movement, resigned from the army and constituted thc nucleus of an anti-British terrorist group known as Babar Akalis.
The site, Jallianwala Bagh became a national place of pilgrimage. Soon after the tragic happenings of the Baisakhi day, 1919, a committee was formed with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya as president to raise a befitting memorial to perpetuate the memory of the martyrs. The Bagh was acquired by the nation on 1 August 1920 at a cost of 5,60,472 rupees but the actual construction of the memorial had to wait until after Independence. The monument, befittingly named the Flame of Liberty, build at a cost of 9,25,000 rupees, was inaugurated by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Republic of India, on 13 April 1961. The central 30-ft high pylon, a four-sided tapering stature of red stone standing in the midst of a shallow tank, is built with 300 slabs with Ashoka Chakra, the national emblem, carsed on them. A stone lantern stands at each corner of the tank. On all four sides of the pylon the words, “In memory of martyrs, 13 April 1919”, has been inscribed in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English. A semi-circular verandah skirting a children’s swimming pool near the main entrance to the Bagh marks the spot where General Dyer’s soldiers took position to fire at the gathering.
Footnote : On 13th April 1919, a Sikh teenager who was being raised at Khalsa Orphanage named Udham Singh saw the happening with his own eyes and avenged the killings of 1300+ of his countrymen by killing Michael O’Dwyer in Caxton Hall of London. On the 31st July, 1940, Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville jail, London.
Posted by admin in HEROES OF PAKISTAN on November 14th, 2013
By Brig Asif Haroon Raja
Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani took the baton from Gen Musharraf on November 29, 2007. As a result of three years extension given to him by the PPP government in November 2010, his second stint will expire on November 29, 2013. During his six years tenure he came across formidable challenges. Having served as GOC 12 Division, DGMO, Commander 10 Corps and DG ISI, he was well attuned to geo-political and operational environments and challenges faced by Pakistan and the Army. War on terror was in its sixth year and things were becoming increasingly difficult for the security forces to contain the rising militancy. Several untoward incidents had occurred which had impacted the morale and image of the Army. At the outset he called back all Army officers employed in civilian departments to put to rest the unwanted cribbing by certain quarters that the Army was monopolizing all organizations in Pakistan. The next thing he did was to forbid Army and its affiliated institutions like Military Intelligence, Rangers and Anti-Narcotics Force from meddling in elections and in political affairs as had happened in 2002 elections and afterwards.
He then made a strategic change in the training system of Army units by changing the normal training cycles imparting conventional training to low intensity conflict training so as to train the soldiers to confront the challenges of guerrilla war. Knowing that no amount of training and sermons would make a real change, he extended a highly loaded welfare package to the lower ranks in order to raise their morale, prestige and honor. His initiative was in contrast to the welfare measures of previous Army chiefs that were mostly confined to the officers only. 2008 was announced as the ‘Year of Soldiers’. By taking care of the uniform, administration, pay scale, pension, security and housing of soldiers, Kayani instilled new life into them and by the time they were pushed into the inferno of Swat they were fully charged up. His next move was to promote only those officers to senior ranks who excelled in leadership qualities, were professionally sound, bold and strong in character and enjoyed clean reputation. He delayed the promotion board scheduled in January 2008 by one year to be able to personally judge the ones in the race. He made sure that the units sent to the combat zone were fully trained, acclimatized and ably led. Realizing that Musharraf and Lt Gen Mahmood were not in good books of PAF senior officers, Kayani took extra pains to forge special ties with PAF and ACM Rao became his close friend.
Setting aside the poor tradition set by his predecessor, he undertook frequent visits to forward areas particularly where things were hot. He tasked DG ISI Gen Shuja Pasha and DG MI to recover the lost ground in FATA and strengthen the first line of defence that had been sufficiently weakened during the reign of Musharraf because of full liberty of action given to CIA and FBI. Efforts to dismantle CIA network were redoubled in the aftermath of Raymond Davis incident in January 2011. Kayani didn’t lose sight of the importance of media and posted well reputed Maj Gen Salim Bajwa and professional officers to ISPR who are working hard to confront the media challenges. Retired senior officers selected as heads of Army welfare institutions were chosen with care to ensure optimum commercial results.
Areas recaptured from the militants are being rebuilt and people rehabilitated systematically. Army has put in sustained efforts to win the hearts and minds of the people of Swat, FATA and Balochistan and have achieved pleasing results. These efforts have jeopardized the nefarious designs of enemies of Pakistan. Not only Kayani and his team have tackled the internal threats astutely, massive external threats posed by six intelligence agencies and belligerence of India and Afghanistan have been taken care of spiritedly. Series of three-service integrated Azm-e-Nau exercises together with successful test firing of variety of missiles are strong reminders to India that it’s much touted Cold Start doctrine if executed would prove highly costly.
On the political front, the first challenge he faced was in August 2008 when PM Yusaf Raza Gilani issued an executive order placing the ISI under Ministry of Interior headed by infamous Rahman Malik reputed to be US and UK choice man. This move was made in response to long held demand of the US and India to bridle ISI. Gilani had been told to complete this act before embarking upon his journey to Washington to meet President Obama. Kayani put his foot down and convinced Gilani to take back his decision. The next difficult situation emerged in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008. Both Zardari and Gilani buckled under fuming Indian pressure and consented to dispatch DG ISI Lt Gen Shuja Pasha to New Delhi to give first hand explanation that the ISI was not involved in the episode. Kayani once again intervened and made sure that the flawed decision was reversed.
When the Army was asked in end April 2009 to clear Swat of Fazlullah led militants and restore writ of the State after Fazlullah backtracked from the peace agreement signed in February 2009, Kayani devised a brilliant offensive plan and within a month freed Swat, Shangla, Buner, Dir, Malakand and Bajaur from the clutches of militants. While holding the captured areas firmly, the Army provided security to the locals. All out efforts were made to rehabilitate 1.7 displaced persons and to rebuild destroyed houses, schools, roads, culverts and bridges. Rehabilitation centres were established to cure teenagers brainwashed to become suicide bombers. Hustle and bustle and glamour of Swat was restored and business activities and tourism in the picturesque town recommenced. The people of Swat whose minds had been poisoned against the Army now respect and love the soldiers and don’t want them to abandon Swat.
The creator and commander of TTP, Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a drone in August 2009. He was replaced by Hakimullah Mehsud. In order to avenge the death of Baitullah, series of attacks were launched in October 2009 including an attack on GHQ on October 10, 2009. Gen Kayani was sitting in his office when ten militants stormed one of the gates of GHQ and some managed to slip inside. Within 18 hours all the militants were either killed or arrested but the shocking incident spurred Kayani to take the battle into the heartland of TTP in South Waziristan (SW). A three-pronged offensive was conceived and launched on October 17, 2009. All the prongs headed towards the nerve centre resting within the critical triangle of Srarogha-Ladha-Makin within SW inhabited by Mehsuds. The myth that SW had never been overwhelmed by foreign forces was broken by the Pak Army.
Like in Swat where the militants armory was filled to the brim by foreign agencies based in Kabul, TTP in SW had also been furnished sophisticated weapons and equipment in huge quantity. Despite the advantage of fighting guerrilla war on home ground, the militants were uprooted in a month’s time and order was restored. These major operations broke the back of TTP and it remained in disarray for next one year. Hard hitting operations were also launched in Mehmand, Kurram and Orakzai Agencies in 2010. Fazlullah, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad commanding TTP Bajaur chapter and Omar Khalid Khurasani heading TTP Mehmand chapter along with their men slipped into neighboring Kunar and Nuristan. Hakimullah Mehsud took refuge in Paktika, while the militants fled to neighboring tribal agencies. After failing to convert upper Orakzai Agency into main base for the TTP, Hakimullah regrouped TTP with the help of his patrons in Kabul and converted Miranshah in North Waziristan (NW) into main base of TTP. Knowing that he was a marked man, he kept changing his abodes and never spent more than six hours at one place.
While Fazlullah and Khurasani are still based in Kunar and are involved in cross border terrorism in Bajaur, Mehmand, Dir and Chitral, Faqir is in Kabul. Fazlullah and Khurasani are fully supported by Afghan intelligence and RAW. Western front is purposely kept heated up by Afghanistan to force Pakistan to mount an operation in NW, declared as the safe haven of anti-US militants led by Haqqani network. The US stealth raid in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011 followed by attack on Salala border post in Mehmand Agency on November 26, 2011, in which 24 soldiers died was a sequel to Kayani’s refusal to pull out additional troops from eastern border and to further stretch out particularly after he had to deploy additional regular troops in Mehmand and Bajaur agencies for the first time in September 2011 to counter the threat from across the western border.
Kayani was instrumental in convincing PM Gilani to close down Shamsi airbase, block NATO supply lines, repatriate US-UK military trainers, cancel all military related meetings, visits and courses, stay out of Bonn conference, ask for an unconditional apology and an assurance that such a blatant act would not be repeated. It was under such adverse circumstances that Kayani was given three year extension. Kayani reluctantly accepted extension, but he made sure that the government agreed to promote and post the senior most Lt Gen serving as his CGS, Gen Shameem Wyne as CJSC. In 2013, the TTP in alliance with Lashkar-e-Islam opened another formidable front in Tirah where the Army took several months to clear the position in June.
Besides internal and external threats, Gen Kayani had to put up with a highly corrupt coalition government whose loyalty to the State was often questioned. While PPP and MQM was NRO cleansed, ANP leader Azam Hoti has recently disclosed that ANP’s leader Asfandyar Wali had accepted bribe from the US in June 2008 to toe its line. MQM leader Altaf Hussain had written a letter to British PM Tony Blair in September 2001 that his party’s services were at his disposal. Hussain Haqqani, ambassador to USA was involved in memo scandal and it is assumed that he couldn’t have sent the anti-Pakistan memo to Admiral Mullen without the blessing of top leadership of PPP. On one hand the soldiers fought the anti-State militants resolutely and over 5000 sacrificed their lives to safeguard the integrity of the motherland, on the other hand the politicians and bureaucrats kept filling their coffers with ill-gotten wealth and chipped the foundations of the country.
To make matters worse for the Army, foreign media in league with segment of Pakistani media left no stone unturned to soil the image of the Army and to discredit Kayani. Some said as to why he accepted extension in service; others coaxed and provoked him to throw out the gang of thieves destroying the country and capture power to save the country from drowning. Extensive pressure was built on him from mid 2012 onwards and when he refused to oblige them despite several lucrative opportunities coming his way, he was belittled for being a sissy. He remained committed to his pledge of supporting democracy even when PM Gilani sacked Secretary Defence Lt Gen Lodhi and passed strong remarks against the Army in reaction to affidavits submitted by Kayani and Pasha concerning memo scandal. The Army extended full support in holding elections in May 2013 and in smooth transition of power for the first time. Kayani has a hand in enabling the PPP government to complete its full tenure.
Hoping that third-time elected Nawaz would live up to his reputation of locking horns with Army chiefs, when nothing of the sort happened, stories were spread that Kayani was seeking yet another extension or wanted to become CJDS with extended powers. In the wake of Kayani’s opinion that the biggest threat to integrity of Pakistan was internal threat, when Nawaz started lobbying for dialogue with militants and APC gave a unanimous decision to hold talks unconditionally, Kayani backed the peace process. Chirping tongues stopped cheeping only when Kayani gave a categorical statement last month that he would retire at the appointed date. Bitten many times by the generals, Nawaz Sharif realizes that Kayani is time-tested and dependable. He is seriously thinking how to make good use of Kayani’s services.
Amidst ongoing controversy whether Hakimullah Mehsud killed by a drone on October 31 was a martyr or otherwise, JI leader Munawar Hassan further heated up the political temperature by giving an irrational and unethical statement on November 10th that Hakimullah Mehsud and militants who were killed by drones or by security forces were all martyrs and soldiers who had died in combat were not Shuhuda. His utterance has hurt Kayani, all ranks of Army and next of kin of Shuhuda. An unconditional apology has rightly been sought by the Army from him. Hassan’s effort to please the TTP should not be at the cost of Army which has stood like a rock between the ruthless killers and people of Pakistan and has rendered huge sacrifices for the defence of the motherland. Earlier he renders an apology or corrects himself better will it be for him and his party since overwhelming majority has denounced his unpalatable statement.
General Kayani would be well remembered for his cool and cigarettes for he is a chain smoker. His farewell to arms has come at a very crucial time in Pakistan’s history.
Posted by admin in HEROES OF PAKISTAN, Pakistan's Flora & Fauna on October 8th, 2013
Pakistan’s Northern Light Infantry Regiment-The Snow Leopards, who mauled the Indian Army Gurkhas in Kargil
Northern Scouts
In 1947 Gilgit Scouts reverted to their original duties of internal security under Pakistani Political agent of Northern Areas. 582 men of Gilgit scouts were placed under the command of Major Muhammad Tufail Shaheed (Nishan-e-Haider). The remaining personnel of the expanded Corps were designated as the Corps of Northern Scouts in November 1949.
Capture of Kargil and Batalik and the Victor Motto
Gilgit scouts were the first battalion in 1948 to capture Kargil and Batalik. Were then warded the motto of Victors.
Karakoram Scouts
The northern scouts were bifurcated on 1st January 1964, and Karakoram scouts were raised with its Head Quarters at Skardu.
Northern Light Infantry Regiment
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War Performance
Liberation War 1947
Honorary Captain Muhammad Baber Khan took part in liberation war 1947/48. On partition, Gilgit agency was handed over to Maharaja of Kashmir by the British government. Brigadier Ghansara Singh arrived at Gilgit to take over the charge as Governor. Later on Major General H L Scott the chief of military staff of Kashmir also joined. The troops of Gilgit Scouts being 100% Muslim were in favour of accession to Pakistan. On 31 October 1947, in the afternoon, Honorary Captain Muhammad Baber Khan called the meeting of the Junior Commissioned Officers of Gilgit scouts in the Junior Commissioned Officers’ mess, where it was unanimously decided to over throw the dogra rule.
The governor surrendered on 1st November 1947. The Muslim company of 6 Jammu Kahmir infantry battalion coming to Gilgit from Bunji under command Captain Hassan Khan also joined the scouts. The scouts attacked and destroyed dogra check post and burnt Partab Bridge. The Sikh and dogra elements deserted and were later captured. 27000 sq miles were thus liberated from Dogra Raj. The force was then placed under command Major Muhammad Tufail Shaheed (Nishan-i-Haider), Honorary Captain Muhammad Baber Khan of 1st Northern Light Infantry Regiment who played the most vital role in the war of liberation (from Dogra Raj) in 1947.
Fighting at the Highest Battle Field in the World
Siachen border is the world’s highest battlefield. 1 Northern Light Infantry Battalion has the unique honour of being the first unit to defend Gyong and Gyari sectors. Battalion was ordered to move to Siachen in the first week of April 1984 from Gilgit under command Lieutenant Colonel Shuja Ullah Tarrar Tamgha-i- Basalat. The unit was involved in a successful combat with weather, terrain and the real enemy. 1 Northern Light Infantry Battalion did dumping of ammonition and ration and complete defence construction.
Action in Azad Kashmir
1st Northern Light Infantry Regiment remained involved in acts of gallantry while its tenure in Azad Kashmir. A number of successful fire raids were carried out on enemy.
Honours and Awards
Gilgit scouts and Northern scouts
War of Liberation and 1965 War
* Sitara-i-Jurat – 5
* Tamgha-i-Jurat – 8
* Imtiazi Sanad – 25
* C-In-C’s Commendation Card – 2
1971 War – Northern Scouts
* Sitara-i-Jurat – 2
* Tamgha-i-Jurat – 2
* Imtiazi Sanad – 1
Karakoram Scouts
1965 War
* Sitara-i-Jurat – 1
* Tamgha-i-Jurat – 1
* Tamgha-i-Basalat – 2
* Imtiazi Sanad – 4
1971 War
* Sitara-i-Jurat – 2
* Tamgha-i-Jurat – 8
* Imtiazi Sanad – 2
Nishan i Haider and Kargil war
Captain Karnal Sher Khan (1970–1999)
Pakistan Army’s official statement is as follows;
“Captain Karnal Sher Khan emerged as the symbol of mettle and courage during the Kargil conflict on the Line of Control (LoC). He set personal examples of bravery and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. He defended the five strategic posts, which he established with his Jawan’s at the height of some 17,000 feet at Gultary, and repulsed many Indian attacks.After many abortive attempts, the enemy on July 5 ringed the post of Capt. Sher Khan with the help of two battalion and unleashed heavy Mortar firing and managed to capture some part of the post. Despite facing all odds, he lead a counter-attack and re- captured the lost parts.But during the course he was hit by the machine-gun fire and embraced Shahadat or martyrdom at the same post. He is the first officer from the NWFP province to be awarded with Nishan-e-Haider.”
Lalak Jan Shaheed (1967 – 7 July 1999)
“He emerged as the symbol of mettle and courage during the Kargil conflict on the Line of Control (LoC). He set personal examples of bravery and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. He defended the strategic posts. During the conflict he embraced Shahadat or martyrdom. He is the first Army man from the Northern Areas now Gilgit Baltistan to be awarded with Nishan-e-Haider.”
Leo, the Pakistani Snow Leopard’s Offspring Thrives in the Bronx Zoo
The new cub was born on April 9; officials at the zoo wanted to make sure that he was healthy and well adjusted before officially putting him on display. Until now, the cub and Maya have been kept out of public view. (In the wild, snow leopard fathers leave the scene after mating and play no role in rearing their young; so Leo, who weighs 83 pounds, is in a separate enclosure in the same exhibit, Himalayan Highlands.)
On Friday, ignoring a reporter, the cub tumbled over a rocky outcropping, playfully stalked his 66-pound mother and rubbed his face against a log. The cub is still nursing, but he has started eating solid food, primarily raw chicken.
“We let the mother do all the work,” said Lacy Martin, a senior wild animal keeper. “She’s doing an excellent job, so there’s no reason to interfere. He’s gotten much more brave and has a lot of spunk.”
Nadeem Hotiana, the press attaché at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, said in a telephone interview that the country had decided to send Leo to the Bronx Zoo because Pakistan lacked an “appropriate facility” to care for the orphaned cub.
The Bronx Zoo is the acknowledged leader in snow leopard care and husbandry. In 1903, it was the first zoo in North America to exhibit snow leopards. Since then the zoo has bred more than 70 of them. They are among the planet’s most endangered large cats, with a range limited to the remote mountains of Central Asia and parts of Bhutan, China, India, Mongolia and Russia. The Bronx Zoo now has 10 snow leopards in its collection, a sizable fraction of the total of 137 snow leopards in accredited zoos in North America.
The cub’s birth is part of the Species Survival Plan, a cooperative breeding program meant to maintain genetic diversity and demographic stability in zoo populations of threatened and endangered animals. Patrick Thomas, the zoo’s general curator and associate director, said the birth represented a “significant boost to the genetics” of the snow leopard program.
In the wild, snow leopard cubs stay with their mothers for about two years. “Right now that cub’s whole world revolves around its mother,” said Dr. Thomas, who was part of the team that traveled to retrieve Leo from the Naltar Valley in Pakistan in 2006. “He relies on her for food and companionship.”
In Pakistan, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the zoo, has worked with local officials on a number of conservation efforts, training more than 100 rangers to monitor snow leopards and other wildlife and to stop deforestation and poaching.
“While Leo is on loan to the Bronx Zoo, we hope that his presence in the United States and ongoing bilateral cooperation on conservation efforts will help deepen the links between the people of Pakistan and the United States,” Richard G. Olson, the United States ambassador to Pakistan, said in a statement.
Dr. Asad M. Khan, Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Washington, also issued a statement: “It’s heartening to learn that Leo had his own cub, a male, this summer. Leo has served as a symbol of deep friendship and abiding good will between our two countries.”
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