Author: Gaurav C Sawant
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 26, 2002
Introduction: We won Kargil but
have Pakistan's evil designs failed? We need answers
"How long should we continue to
sacrifice our sons?" asks an emotional Meena Nayyar in response to Prime
Minister Vajpayee's recent call for more sacrifices. Meena lost her 23-year-old
son, Anuj Nayyar, in the Mushkoh valley sub-sector the posthumous Maha
Vir Chakra is little solace for the void left behind.
"Even three years later, his fiance
refuses to marry anyone else," she says. The family is still trying to
cope with the grief Anuj's father, Satish Nayyar, a professor at Delhi
School of Economics does not feel like teaching anymore. And at 22, Anuj's
younger brother, Karan, is already philosophical about life, war and death.
"We are at the brink of another
war. What will this war achieve and what did Kargil achieve? Pakistan has
not mended its ways and now, besides the soldiers at the border, even their
families in the cantonments are not safe. This is very demoralising," says
Meena, the head librarian of Delhi University's south campus library. Time
has failed to heal their wounds or fill the void. "We shifted from our
house in Janakpuri since everything there reminded us of Anuj. But Anuj's
memories still fill us with pain," she says.
But under all this pain is a feeling
of pride as well. "He did what he had to do for the nation. He was born
to die for the country and his 17 Jar battalion. He did them both proud.
Anuj also did us proud. But does the nation not have a duty towards him
and other martyrs. After all what did they sacrifice their lives for?"
asks Anuj's father.
"Has the situation in Jammu and
Kashmir changed? Is the place safer for the people and the armed forces?
Has Pakistan's evil designs failed? There is a need to find the answers.
Why has Kargil failed to achieve its aim? Why is Pakistan still in a position
to create havoc in J&K within months of the Kargil conflict? We must
try and find out where we went wrong in our Kargil and post-Kargil strategy
and ensure the mistakes are not repeated," he adds.
