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Army battling to correct its Param Vir mistakes

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

The Indian Army, desperate to save face and put records straight, is rewriting the citations issued to four Param Vir Chakra winners of Operation Vijay.

The original citations, made public on the Independence Day eve, contain several mistakes, including a claim that one of the winners was dead.

All the four citations contain major blunders, exposing unwanted hurry and raising doubts of political interference. The hero of Tiger Hills, Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav who is recovering in an army hospital in Delhi, was given PVC "posthumously". The army got its facts about Captain Vikram Batra too completely wrong. The citation for Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey claimed that he died on June 2-3 when the young officer had laid down his life a month later.

An embarrassed military secretary's office, which released the citations, is presently engaged in preparing corrected versions. Trying not to make it look like a mere correction exercise, the office is also preparing the citations of the nine Maha Vir Chakra winners. Sources said the army headquarters is "discussing if to release the right version to the media".

The biggest folly committed by the army was to declare a "posthumous PVC" for Yogender Singh Yadav of the 18 Grenadiers. On the afternoon of the Independence Day, army chief General V P Malik had rushed to the Base hospital in Delhi to express his regrets and congratulate Yadav. The visit, played up by media at the instance of the army's media managers, succeeded in shifting focus from an equally important mistake.

Captain Vikram Batra, the dashing officer who stole the nation's heart by radioing in the Pepsi advertisement line "Yeh Dil Mange More" after the capture of Point 5140, had actually died on the night of July 6-7 night during an attack on Point 4875. But the army citation said:

"On 20 June 1999, when 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles was tasked to capture Point 5140, Captain Vikram Batra prevailed upon his commanding officer to let him lead the Battalion attack. ...leading from the front, he rallied his men and pressed on the attack till he succumbed to his wounds."

Captain Batra participated in the operation for Point 5140. On completing it, he radioed in "Yeh Dil Mange More", conveying his desire to take on more challenges. He had later met a group of journalists, and had even come on a private news channel talking about the operations. The intrepid officer, nicknamed Sher Shah by the Pakistani side, died more than two weeks later.

The army had said on July 8 in its daily update on the Kargil operations, while talking about progress in the Drass sector, that "The enemy also counter-attacked Point 4875 and Twin Bump on night 7-8 July 1999. The counter-attacks were effectively repulsed by troops of Jat Regiment and Jammu and Kashmir Rifles. In these operations, 46 enemy soldiers were killed. On our side, while beating back the counter attack, Captain Vikram Batra of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and Captain Anuj Nayyer of the Jat Regiment along with 11 Other Ranks made the supreme sacrifice in the highest traditions of the Indian Army."

The faux pas is presently under investigation. Though it has affirmed that action would be taken against those responsible, it is by now clear that the army headquarters did not even go back to the daily briefings received from the field, based on which the media updates were issued. In fact, sources said the military secretary's office prepared the entire PVC citations in two days, August 12 and 13, and rushed it through to the President, who was virtually convinced to sign it before the Independence Day.

The hurried approach, which has kicked up doubts about the awards, is being attributed to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government's overenthusiasm to gain mileage out of Kargil operations.

The PVC citation issued to Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey says he died on the night of "2-3 June, 1999", while mentioning that "on 11 June 1999, he led his men in the recapture of Juber Top"!

The truth is that Lt Pandey, a former Uttar Pradesh Sainik School student who belongs to a lower middle-class family of Lucknow, died on the night of July 2-3 during the operation to recapture Khalubar.

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