Inspiration often comes from those nearest to us. For the
kin of those serving in uniform, this notion often hits home. For a young woman
lieutenant posted in Tenga, Arunachal Pradesh, whose father was a decorated
officer in the Indian Army, this is seemingly the case.
However,
during an initiation tour, which took her to a post at Kya Pho in the Tawang
sector, she was in for a major surprise, reports the Time
of India. The post at Kya Pho, which is in close
proximity to the Indo-China border, is called Ashish Top. When the young
lieutenant asked about the origins of this name, the answer left her
gobsmacked.
According
to the publication, she found out that the post is named after her father
Ashish Das, who retired as a Colonel serving in the Assam Regiment. Soon after
this discovery, she called her father about this revelation.
“I
was at home when I received a call from the commanding officer of the unit
manning Ashish Top. He introduced himself and described how my daughter had
broken down on coming to know that the post was named after me,” Das told the
Times of India.
“I may have told my family of
our unit’s exploits in that sector in 1986, but my daughter was not even born
then,” he added. “Even I came to know about this post being named after me only
in 2003, 17 years after we beat back troops of China’s People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) and occupied the post at 14,000 feet,” he said.
As the PLA often attempts to do along the Line of Actual
Control, they made serious incursions into the India side of the border. This
time it was in the Sumdorong Chu Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, where they also
began constructing permanent structures.
In response, the Indian Army, under
its then chief General K Sundarji, launched Operation Falcon.
During the operation, an entire infantry brigade was
airlifted on Russian-made heavy lift MI-26 helicopters to Zeminthang, a place
near Sumdorung Chu, but 90 km from Tawang.
“We had to blast our way through Bum La and reached the
Sangetsar lake. The Chinese were sitting just across. Our orders were to hold
ground, and we dug in. Every officer must have made 17-20 copies of wills in
the intervening days and handed them over to their adjutants. We started to
move forward a few days later and also blasted Kya Pho that was snowed in. We
did not know that we had crossed the Chinese camp but maintained our position.
There were attempts to supply rations by air, but the drops landed inside
China. I remember surviving on rats. It was only later that skid boards were
designed and rations reached us. A helipad was also constructed. There were
firefights every day as we proceeded from one bunker to the next,” Das said.
When Colonel (then a Captain) Das’s party was returning
to base on the day of Onam, the Chinese troops started firing on them. The men
retaliated with Das leading the response, and opened fire on the Chinese,
forcing them to step back and drop the chase altogether. They held their
position for three days without food.
“There would be heavy firing at night followed by white
flares during the day and parleys with the local Chinese political commissar,”
Das told the publication.
Finally, a flag meeting between both sides calmed things,
as the Chinese struggled for a response. After this success, the Government of
India decided to take things a step further and converted Arunachal Pradesh, a
centrally-administered territory then, into a full-fledged state.
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