When the bugle calls, they shall rise again and answer. Siachen, the highest battlefield in the world has taken lives of many lionhearted Indian soldiers. Naib Subedar Bana Singh of 8 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, born on January 6th, 1949 was employed in the Saichen region in 1987. A special task force was constituted for fending off the growing infiltrations by the Pakistani troops in the area. Naib Subedar Bana Singh was a member of the group that was incorporated to clear the intrusion.
At an altitude of more than 20000 feet, the Siachen glacier is an unassailable and invulnerable glacier fortress with icy cold winds and ice laden walls as high as 1600 feet on both sides. The peak, previously known as Quaid, was intruded by the infiltrators from Pakistan. The enemy post was an impregnable glacier fortress at a height of 6500 feet. With indomitable courage, Naib Subedar Bana Singh led his troops through the most dangerous and toilsome route. He, along with his men, moved from trench to trench charging with a bayonet. They crawled, they charged, the faced the icy cold winds, the snow laden ground and cleared the posts of all intruders.
The taskforce led by Naib Subedar Bana Singh started their heroics in extreme darkness facing heavy snowstorm. According to Bana Singh, the Pakistani intruders had never thought that Indian soldiers can take such a dangerous route because of the extreme foul weather. The complacency of the Pakistani troops led to their downfall. As soon as the Indian soldiers reached the top, Bana Singh opened the front door and threw grenades at the infiltrators. With a light machine gun, his brave men started the fire from all ends. The Pakistani soldiers were stunned to see such an operation by their Indian counterparts. Mostly SSG personnel were deployed by Pakistan on the post. In the extreme and intense climate, more than seven Pakistani soldiers were killed by the Indian bullets and grenades. Few of them were even bayoneted. Naib Subedar Bana Singh even said in an interview that the Pakistani soldiers sensing the peril started shelling viciously using air burst ammunitions.
One of the members of the Indian troop, Sepoy Om Raj had lost his hand in this intense operation. In spite of all the odds and extreme climate, the Indian soldiers, with their brave efforts captured the post but lost Sepoy Om Raj. Following the ethos and protocol of the Indian army, Bana handed over the seven bodies of Pakistani SSG personnel to his neighboring country.
The Brigade Commander, Brigadier CS Niugyal who was involved with the planning and execution of the operation arrived on a helicopter in the morning of June 27th, 1987. Sensing the stupendous bravery, he fiercely hugged Subedar Bana Singh as his troops. At a temperature as low as minus 70 degree Celsius, Bana Singh and his brave troops emerged as the lone survivors killing all the Pakistani soldiers and SSG personnel.
A true, valiant and brave show of leadership led to Naib Subedar Bana Singh being awarded the Param Vir Chakra for his heroism. The post was later named as the Bana post to honour Naib Subedar Bana Singh for his dedicated effort. During the Kargil war, Naib Subedar Bana Singh was the only Param Vir Chakra awardee serving the Indian army.
Comments
comments
