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| July 2010 Issue |
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The Battle of Sardar Post
A saga of the brave hearts of CRPF in the in the Rann of Kutch
Sanjeev Singh |
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All the Central Para-military Forces (CPMFs) and state police forces of this country celebrate April 9th as Valour Day as a mark of respect to the act of indomitable courage, exemplary valour and supreme sacrifice exhibited by few CRPF personnel while fighting the Pakistani Army at Sardar Post in 1965. It is the glorious history of insurmountable bravery of a small contingent of valiant CRPF men against 3500 heavily armed desperados at Sardar Post in the Rann of Kutch. A unique and unparalleled feet in the military history of war, where a heavily outnumbered and outgunned small contingent of paramilitary CRPF personnel beat back a regular army infantry brigade and held them at bay for over 12 long hours.
India’s post independence days saw frequent squabbles between India and Pakistan, owing to incursions and infiltration by Pakistani forces laying claim to the territory lawfully in India’s possession. During those years Pakistan received military and economic aid from the western powers, ostensibly to contain communist expansionism in Asia, but the strengthening of its forces was in effect to intimidate India. |
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Common animosity towards India brought Pakistan and China closer. After the Chinese aggression of India in 1962, Pakistan started openly colluding with China.
To consolidate its friendship with China, in 1963, Pakistan gave away a portion of J&K territory to China, which was under its illegal occupation. Emboldened by Sino-Pak friendship, Z.A. Bhutto, the then foreign minister of Pakistan made a boastful declaration in the Pakistan National Assembly on 17 July, 1963, “in the event of war, Pakistan would not be alone; Pakistan would be helped by the most powerful nation in Asia.”
Since 1947, The Rann of Kutch has been a disputed territory between India and Pakistan. Half of the 3500 square miles of area, is disputed. While Pakistan could have laid claim to the entire area over which Sindh government, now part of Pakistan, exercised administrative and judicial control before partition, it chose to claim only the northern half of the territory. But, as the boundaries between Sindh province and the princely Sates of Kutch were not clearly defined, the territory remained disputed at the time of partition. India claimed the whole territory, although India herself has admitted that half of the northern territory was disputed. However, since partition, India has had little to do with the area which was under Pakistan jurisdiction. Ever since partition, it maintained a police post at Chhad Bet, which was within the area of Pakistan claim.
Topographically, the Indo-Pak border at Kutch stretched upto 500kms along, a combination of land creek and a coastline upto 240kms long on the north west and western part of the state. This is one of the most porous borders of the peninsula. The Rann of Kutch is about 320 miles long and 50 miles wide covering an area of 8000 square miles out of a total of 17,000 square miles of Kutch area.
The flat expanse of the Rann remains submerged by the waters of Arabian Sea from May to October and the remaining six months it is covered with a thick crust of salt and sand. The area is barren and uninhabitable and is easily accessible from Sindh rather than Gujarat. In 1906, the British government declared it as a marsh. It is probably the biggest salt lake in the world. Reportedly, the Rann is rich in deposits of valuable minerals like gypsum, lime stone, lignite, bauxite etc. The geologists believe that there is a rich petroleum reserve in this area and this probably was the reason why Pakistan laid claim to half of the Rann stating it to be an inland sea. However, the Rann has never been recognised as an inland sea. |
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