Hello, Warriors! As the headlines today are filled with the justice that is being denied to Captain Saurabh Kalia, his father, Dr. Narinder Kumar Kalia has asked the Indian Government to move the case to the International Court of Justice. Captain Saurabh Kalia would have turned 39 years old by now. But he decided to lay his life for the motherland at just when he was 23 years old-when all the others of his same age were busy starting or planning their career.
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- Born on 29 June 1976 at Amritsar to Mrs. Vijaya and Dr. N. K. Kalia, Captain Saurabh Kalia did his schooling from D.A.V Public School Palampur before graduating in (BSc Med.) from H. P. Agricultural University, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh in 1997.
- He was recruited from the Indian Military Academy in August 1997, and was later commissioned in December 1998.
- His first posting was in 4 JAT Regiment in the Kargil Sector, along with five other soldiers – Arjun Ram, Bhika Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Moola Ram and Naresh Singh. He was promoted to the rank of captain while he was in the field area.
- Captain Saurabh Kalia was the first Indian army officer to observe and report large-scale intrusion of Pakistani Army and foreign mercenaries on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) at Kargil during the partol checks to occupy the summer positions.
- On 15th May, 1999, Lt. Saurabh Kalia and his men got engaged in a non-stop crossfire with the Pakistan Army across the LOC. Soon after running out of ammunition, they were captured by Pakistani soldiers and held in captivity for 22 days.
- Post-mortem examinations revealed that the Pakistanis had tortured them by burning their bodies with cigarettes and piercing the ear-drums with hot rods.
- Moreover the Pakistanis punctured their eyes before removing them, broke most of their teeth and bones, fractured their skulls, cut the lips, chipped the nose, chopped off limbs and private organs of the soldiers, and finally shooting them dead. This was corroborated by post-mortem reports after Pakistan handed the mutilated bodies to India on June 9, 1999. The post-mortem also confirmed the injuries were inflicted before death.
- After the clear violation of the principles of the Geneva Convention, a formal notice was submitted against those responsible. Part 2 Article 13 (General protection of prisoners of war) of The Geneva Convention states that, Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention.
- However, Pakistan denied all charges of torture and held its stand of being not guilty. Moreover, the then interior minister of Pakistan, went on record to say that the Capt. Saurabh Kalia and others died of extreme weather conditions and that there was no evidence to prove whether they were shot or not.
Even while Pakistani militants captured Captain Saurabh Kalia and his party of five brave men from our side of the Line of Control and kept in captivity for over three weeks, subjecting to brutal torture as is evident from their mutilated bodies handed over by the Pakistan Army. Our young men did not break while undergoing unlimited barbaric torture. This speaks volumes of their inspiration, patriotism, tenacity and valour and the whole nation should be proud of them.
