Burden Of Peace

They sacrificed their lives for the country but they are no martyrs. The truth is, the nation did not even pause to salute them. Like the hundreds who die every year fighting insurgency in Kashmir or in the Northeast, the unsung heroes of Operation Parakram—the 10-month-long build-up along the Indo-Pak border after the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament—have been reduced to mere statistics.

True, the 387 men who died and the 1,051 who sustained serious injuries had not fought a war. But many who were part of the deployment say it was an arduous, nerve-wracking and frustrating 10 months. Recalls an infantry officer posted in Rajasthan: "To be waiting on high alert for such a protracted period told on everyone's nerves. We literally fought a war that was not actually fought. There were rumours that war would break out in a week or month's time. And then nothing happened..."

Six months after the operation was called off in October, strategists at army headquarters are still tabulating the cost of the build-up and what it actually achieved.The bill: an esimated Rs 8,000 crore. As far as their political masters are concerned, it served the diplomatic objective. But within the army, senior officers are questioning the wisdom of that deployment. "Our strengths and weaknesses, equipment and formations were exposed. Luckily, there was no war towards the end of the deployment or we'd have found the going tough," says a serving general.

But more than anything else, the human cost of that build-up is what's bothering many serving officers. Many heart-rending stories of jawans and officers losing their lives—either by stepping on landmines or committing suicide—forms the sub-text of the country's largest peace-time military mobilisation. It was an exercise which saw close to half-a-million troops lined up along the Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir border. Kept in combat readiness for 10 months, in harsh conditions, the troops finally returned to their barracks once the political establishment realised that the deployment was taking its toll on men and machinery. Defence minister George Fernandes admitted in Parliament last week that 1,874 men were killed or injured between December 19, 2001 when the operation was launched and October 16, 2002, when the pullback was ordered.

Even so, it took months for the troops to pull back and even today de-mining operations continue in the western sector. It will be a while before a realistic assessment in terms of the loss of lives and injuries during the deployment and re-deployment of Indian soldiers is arrived at. Here are some shocking facts Outlook sourced on non-combat casualties during the operation:

• De-mining operations accounted for 75 deaths and 291 injuries.
  
  
• Estimates put the civilian toll in mine-related incidents at 300.
  
  
• Accidents during the deployment and re-deployment left 109 dead and 327 injured.
  
  
• Psychological stress and weather conditions led to 104 deaths and 49 injuries.

• Havaldar Manjit Singh, deployed in J&K, was all set to go home to his wife and children in Hoshiarpur. But he was requisitioned for Operation Parakram and moved to the Indo-Pak border near Bhatinda. Life was hard. With no leave in sight, he could not take it any more and suffered a mental breakdown.

• Jaswant Singh of the 4 Sikh Light Infantry, trying to dislodge an army truck involved in an accident, died when an icy overhang in one of the passes in J&K gave way. Says his wife Kulwant Kaur, "He had plans to build a house and wanted to send our son Daljeet to the army. Such was his commitment, and now he is no more."