Author: Sandeep Unnithan
Publication: India Today
Dated: November 26, 2007
Introduction: A ceremonial guard set up after
Kargil has one task alone to honour those killed in the line of duty.
The station headquarters in Delhi Cantonment
buzz with activity with phones ringing and soldiers snapping at attention.
An officer works three phones, speaking to army units across the country while
thumbing through a flight schedule. This is a military operation with a difference.
A group of over 50 armymen-officers, buglers,
a ceremonial guard of 14 soldiers, drivers and pall bearers-attached to the
administration branch at the headquarters, has only one task: to ensure that
their fallen comrades are received with a ceremony that neatly bypasses civilian
red tape and escorted to their loved ones.
The bodies are flown in by civilian airlines
at the rate of over one a day to the technical area of the Indian Airlines
terminal at Delhi airport. The standard operation procedure is the same for
every casualty, from a jawan to a general, and minutely detailed in a way
only the army can, from the exact number of personnel to the number of vehicles
to be deployed. At the airport, the coffins are received by the group in a
specially-manufactured trolley marked with the national flag. A brief ceremony
follows in which wreaths are laid by the army chief, army commander and local
military commander and the armymen sound the Last Post and reverse rifles.
The practice originated during the Kargil
war when the government decided that all fallen soldiers would be sent back
to their families with full military honours, coffins draped in the Tricolour.
Even after the cross-border invasion was replaced by cross-border terrorism
and the media glare dimmed, the practice continues. The unit ensures there
is no delay in sending the coffins from conflict zones to the bereaved families.
The department doesn't even have a name for
fear of affecting the morale of those working in it. It is an emotionally
draining job, among the toughest in a peace time army and the men are rotated
every month. An officer confesses, "Seeing a child lighting his father's
pyre breaks our hearts".
Delhi is the hub for the bodies that come
in from India's northern and eastern borders and hosts a majority of the fatalities
in the 1.1-million strong army. The bodies are categorised as either a physical
casualty (struck down by accidents) or a battle casualty (killed by militants).
Both are given the same respect. There is, however, no ceremony for soldiers
who commit suicide or kill their comrades. The Tricolour is substituted with
a white cloth and there is no ceremonial guard of honour. Even death has its
subtleties.
