50 years of the 1971 war: When both sides showed compassion, bonhomie

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 8

It’s been 50 years since the 1971 India-Pakistan war, but Brigadier Indermohan Singh (retd) recalls the events as if it happened yesterday. From the movement of his regiment to the map of the area — he remembers all the little details.

Back then, he was all of 20; only three months into the service. He was the second lieutenant in the 69 Armoured Regiment. His was the first mixed-class armoured regiment that had 53 tanks.

Rescue act

I was in the leading tank from Hilli to Goraghat when I saw an injured Pakistani soldier. The crowd hurled stones at him. I saved him. Later, we came to know that our tank driver, presumed to be dead, was saved by the Pakistan army. Brig Indermohan Singh (retd)

He recalls how he had saved a Pakistani soldier and the Pakistan army had rescued an Indian tank driver.

“I was in the leading tank from Hilli to Goraghat when I saw a Pakistani soldier with a bullet in his leg. The crowd hurled stones at him. I saved him from the crowd and took him to a military hospital. This good turn was rewarded when we came to know that our tank driver Sahab Singh, whom we were presuming to be dead, was saved by the Pakistan army,” he shares.

Brigadier Indermohan says when the war was over, Indian and Pakistani soldiers had tea and snacks together and talked in Punjabi and longed to visit this part of Punjab.

Brigadier SS Gill (retd), then 21, was the Second Lieutenant and gun position officer during the war. “The enemy bombarded my gun position thrice and a splinter went through my turban. My mother preserved that turban. We lost five of our soldiers,” shares Brigadier Gill.