21 October, Police Memorial Day Special. Before joining the police department, I had no idea why we observed October 21 as Martyrs' Day. In fact, I never had a chance to know the police closely. Just like everyone else, I also felt to maintain my distance and stay away from the policemen and hoped I never have to climb the stairs of the police station. But five years ago, when I came to the police department, I started paying homage to the brave police martyrs on every October 21. The only answer to ‘why we observe Martyrs' Day on October 21?’ I received that somewhere on the Indo-China border in 1959, our policemen sacrificed their lives while protecting our country.
Last year, I was nominated by Madhya Pradesh Police to go to Ladakh. But before my questions such as what have I got to do there - training or trekking, where exactly am I supposed to do in Ladakh, how many days do I have to spend there and so on were answered, the programme got postponed due to covid. Fortunately, I again got a chance to enroll for the programme and this time I received detailed information from the Ministry of Home Affairs of India. I found that the 15-day programme was to start from Chandigarh and walk for about 150 km from Pangong Tso Lake in Ladakh on the Indo-China border. I was one of those who had to pay tribute to the martyrs in the Hot Springs area.
I still didn't know much about 1959 incident. I was part of the 30 officers from different states and departments from across the country to start the journey from Chandigarh to 'Hot Springs' via a bus. On the fourth day of the journey the team reached Leh via Kullu, Keylong, Serchu. We could have reached Leh directly by flight, but there was a reason behind the four-day bus travel and then the approximately 10-hour daily walk through the Himalayas. The walk gave us a chance to understand the Himalayas, its geography, the modalities and the hardships of going up the mountain peak.
At Leh we met those who witnessed the 1959 incident. Only three people who witnessed the incident are now alive. Out of them two were not keeping good health. They told us how the team was assigned the task of making the forward post and they reached Hot Springs from Leh in about 45 days on foot and carried goods on mules. It was October and the winter was setting in. unlike the camp/tent facility that are available today. The team slept in villages under open sky and some help from the villagers.
At hot springs, known so because of the small natural source of hot water, the soldiers camped there and the next day (21 October 1959) the Indian team led by Officer Karam Singh advanced for the mission. The Chinese army was positioned on the hilltop and taking advantage of the height they attacked and threatened the Indian soldiers to return. But our soldiers stood firm. As a result, ten soldiers were laid their lives and some jawans including Karam Singh were taken prisoners. (A hill there is still named Karam Singh Hill after Karam Singh).
A few days later, the Chinese returned the bodies of prisoners and they were buried in Hot Springs and a martyr's memorial was set up there. It took us three more days to reach Hot Springs from Leh. We woke up at four in the morning in the bitter cold, and reached the martyr's memorial. As soon as we reached the memorial, it was as if the cold and hardships we were facing throughout the journey disappeared. Today, we can only imagine what would have been the situation in 1959. Reaching here would not have been easy and even more difficult to brave the enemies firmly.
Everyone at the memorial was thinking that if the soldiers then had not fought bravely, then perhaps we would not have had hot springs and we would not have been able to set our feet here on the first ray of the sun. The snow-clad mountains, stone, sandy land and valleys that spread far and wide may definitely look attractive in the pictures but in reality, things can be scary as the evening sets in. As far as your eyes can see there are no trees or greenery and no wild species. All you can see is our army jawans. These jawans stood there firmly on the day when we were paying homage to the martyrs at Hot Springs and are still standing there braving the wrath of cold. So, from now on whenever we observe Police Martyr's Day on October 21, we must remember Karam Singh and his team who demonstrated fearlessness to the enemies and following the same spirit, every year some policeman somewhere in India lays down his life serving the nation. Whether it is a Naxal-infested area, arrangements during the festival season, conducting peaceful elections or nabbing the criminals, the policemen are always at work. Surely there may be certain shortcomings that can be overcome with everyone’s cooperation. But do not feel bad to be friends with the police, or find it embarrassing to visit the police station.
I hope there will be a year when not a single policeman will have to lay down his life while on duty.
Jai Hind.
Writer- Mr. Agam Jain, is a 2016 batch Indian Police Service officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre. At present, he is posted as ADC to the honorable Governor
