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Mehar Dahiya — hero of battle for vital saddle in Siachen

Mehar Singh Dahiya is a third generation veteran. His grandfather and father had together served in 17 Poona Horse and participated in some of the fiercest battles fought in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) in World War 2.

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Col Dilbag Dabas (Retd)

Mehar Singh Dahiya is a third generation veteran. His grandfather and father had together served in 17 Poona Horse and participated in some of the fiercest battles fought in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) in World War 2. His son is a fourth generation soldier in oval greens. For this proud Dahiya clan, soldiering has not just been a profession but a way of life, an honourable way to serve the motherland.

Mehar Singh was born at Sehri village (now in Sonepat district) in Rohtak district. Since childhood, Mehar Singh knew he was destined to be a soldier. He had initial education at the village school and did senior secondary from Sainik School, Chittorgarh, and later went on to join the prestigious National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla (Poona). He was commissioned into 3 Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry (JAK LI) in June !973. 

The Indian Army occupied the Siachen glacier without much opposition in April 1984 primarily outpacing the Pakistan army and by the end of the campaign season, dominated most of the strategic heights in the northern glacier. However, there was one feature named Pt 5966 of huge tactical importance which dominated both Kondush and the Siachen glacier. It also formed the left shoulder of Sia La in the northern glacier, which was unoccupied. This piece of land, barely 30 metres wide, called saddle, dominated heights far beyond northwest and was of immense tactical importance to both armies. Intercepted intelligence reports indicated that a company plus strength of the enemy special forces supported by a regiment of light mortars was building up to occupy the saddle, hold onto it and develop it as a defended locality. It was here that for his act of bravery, Major Mehar Singh Dahiya was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for gallantry. The account of his gallantry is available in the War Diary of 3 Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry.

Mehar Singh Dahiya, as a Colonel (Col), commanded his parent battalion 3 JAK LI but before that he held many staff and instructional appointments at category A and B Army establishments. As Group Testing Officer at Selection Centre, Bangalore, he spotted and cleared Rajiv Joon and Rakesh Singh; both commissioned into 22 Grenadiers and were awarded Ashok Chakra posthumously for bravey during counter-insurgency operations in the Kashmir valley in early nineties.  

Even as a veteran, Col Dahiya dons multiple hats with elan. He has been co-opted member of the Animal Welfare Board of India and is also a member of the core committee of the Haryana Academy of History and Culture. At present, he is a member of the Academic Planning Board of Chaudhry Ranbir Singh University (CRSU), Jind, and Director of a pilot project on human transformation at the CRSU. For Col Mehar Singh Dahiya, even after hanging his oval greens, there is never a dull moment in his life. 


The account of his bravery in War Diary of 3 JAK LI reads...

Major Mehar Singh Dahiya, then on deputation with Ladakh Scouts, was ordered on February 19, 1985, to outpace the enemy and occupy the saddle with his company of Ladakh Scouts. Major Dahiya, along with his men (barely 15 of them), in field service marching order trekked for nearly 24 hours, with intermittent short halts to catch breath, and reached the saddle totally exhausted by midnight February 19/20, 1985. The defences on the saddle were organised and automatic weapons were deployed in the hours of darkness and by daybreak, Major Dahiya and his men waited for the enemy to emerge. 

Around 9 am, on February 20, when the forward elements of the advancing enemy were 200 metres short of the saddle, Major Dahiya himself fired the first round of 84 mm rocket launcher at the enemy as a destructive warning to layoff. The enemy did not heed the warning and attacked the saddle but the Ladakhis under Major Dahiya held on and beat back the attack. Major Dahiya, though crippled by an enemy bullet injury, moved from trench to trench and inspired his men and the attack was repulsed, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. 

After two hours, the enemy regrouped and launched another attack with more vigour, but due to stiff resistance by Major Dahiya and his men, the attack was beaten back yet again. This struggle continued for next six days with heavy enemy artillery shelling during which there was no replenishment of ration or ammunition. Though badly injured, Major Dahiya ensured that all the casualties were evacuated before his evacuation. In the hard-fought battles for the saddle for over six days, the company earned five gallantry awards — one Ashok Chakra, one Kirti Chakra, one Shaurya Chakra (Major Dahiya) and two Sena Medals. But for the swift and gallant action by Major Mehar Singh Dahiya and his company, the saddle, the dominating feature on the northern glacier, wouldn’t have been on the Indian side of the LOC and would have compromised the defences of the complete northern glacier.

(The writer is a veteran Gunner, 6 Field Regiment)

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