Author: PT Bopanna
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 31, 2006
The nation remembered former Chief of the
Army Staff 'Soldiers' General KS Thimmayya, who had almost settled the Kashmir
issue as far back as 1948, on his birth centenary on Friday.
Gen Thimmayya, who created military history
by deploying tanks over the snowbound 12,000-feet high Zojila Pass and broke
through the Pakistani positions in 1948, was born on March 31, 1906, at Mercara
(now Madikeri), in Coorg (now Kodagu) district of Karnataka.
When Gen Thimmayya, popularly known as 'Timmy'
among friends, assumed command of the 19th Indian division in Jammu &
Kashmir, he wanted to drive back the tribals of Kashmir. After achieving his
mission, Gen Thimmayya wired back, seeking permission to liberate the rest
of Kashmir valley as the military equation had changed.
Pandit Jawharlal Nehru, India's first Prime
Minister, who was bent on impressing the world community rather than protecting
the nation's interest, decided to approach the United Nations to score brownie
points.
When Gen Thimmayya, warned against the dangers
from China, he was ridiculed by Nehru and his Defence Minister Krishna Menon,
with the General threatening to resign. However, history proved that Nehru
was wrong.
In a fitting tribute to the great General,
President APJ Abdul Kalam is visiting the birthplace of Gen Thimmayya at Madikeri
on April 7 to inaugurate the birth centenary celebrations.
The Karnataka Government has decided to convert
"Sunnyside", the home of Gen Thimmayya at Madikeri into a museum.
It now houses the local RTO office.
Gen Thimmayya went through his early education
at Bishop Cottons School in Bangalore. He joined the Royal Indian Army in
1926.
Interestingly, the first Commander-in-Chief
of the Indian Army, Field Marshall KM Cariappa, and his immediate successor
Gen Thimmayya, both hailed from the same town of Mercara, then part of the
Coorg province, directly ruled by the British.
Gen Thimmayya died in 1965 while commanding
a United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus.
