Read this interesting news below. He is Lieutenant: Parbati Charan Das from
Pathsala serving at the 4th Bn 11 Gorkha Rifles. He died at the age of 26
fighting for the country at Kargil Sector about September 1949.
Rini Kakati
Almost immediately after Independence, the Indian Army encountered its first
challenge. Pakistani backed militants made deep forays into Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian Army was immediately rushed in to drive away the raiders. The Indian
Army was almost successful in repulsing the Pakistan backed raiders and
regained control over a major segment of the occupied territory. But, a
prolonged battle continued, to gain control of the strategic icy heights in the
Kashmir sector.
It was around September 1949 that a unit of the 4th Bn 11 Gorkha Rifles was
deployed in the Kargil sector. To gain an advantage over the enemy, a good
communication network is of paramount importance.
But, to set up such a communication network in a hostile environment wasn’t the
easiest of tasks. Lieutenant Parbati Charan Das was entrusted with the task to
establish telephone communication with Coy headquarters in Chulichang village
on the left bank of the Indus river in the Kargil sector. He accepted the
responsibility with great enthusiasm, though his job required extreme guts to
overcome the rough terrain and ice cold rivers.
On October 5, Lieutenant Das had personally reconnoitered the place from where
he wanted to establish the telephone cable across the river. The next morning,
Lieutenant Das, along with his two signallers, went to the right bank of the
Indus river to accomplish the mission. He made several attempts to throw the
cable across the fast flowing river. But, all his efforts came a cropper.
For young Lieut. Das, the word impossible never existed.Instead of giving up,
he ventured to attempt the impossible. Only one option was there to make the
mission possible-to swim across the river when the chill had already set in.
Lieut. Das took up the challenge and resolved to swim across the river. He tied
one end of the cable around his waist, after having checked all the knots and
moorings of the cable.
Lieut. Das refused to heed the repeated requests made by the two men accompying
him not to do so. Without caring about his own personal safety, he plunged into
the river. An expert swimmer, Lieut. Das swam across about three fourths of the
river. Unfortunately, when he was just nearing the other bank of the river, the
unthinkable happened. He got caught in an extremely cold current and started
going down the river. The two signallers who had the other end of the cable in
their hands tried to pull him out of the icy cold waters. But, due to the
strong currents, the cable gave way. Lieut. Das fought a losing battle and was
swept away. Later, a vigorous search was made to trace the body, but to no
avail. He was just 26 years old at the time of his death.
The supreme sacrifice made by Lieut. Das moved the nation. The then Prime
Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in his own hand, wrote a letter to Baliram
Das, father of Lieut. Das. The entire Army, led by the Commander- in- Chief Gen
K M Cariappa, condoled the death of Lieut. Das. The then Commanding Officer of
Lieut Das, Lt Col R P Yadava, in his letter to Baliram Das, wrote:” An ordinary
officer of common mettle would never have dared to swim the flowing and
tortuous Indus, but for gallant and brave Parbati, no obstacle of any
description could deter him from achieving his object. He gave his life for the
country. In him we have lost one of the finest officers of the Army. He has set
an example for us and made a name for the regiment.” The Army made a number of
correspondences with Baliram Das. But, the untimely death of his only son
shattered him and he died soon after. Lieut. Parbati Das became a forgotten
hero in his own State. Even the people in
his home town, Pathsala, are not aware of the first Assamese martyr of Kargil.
Dr Lakshinath Das has been in London for the last 41 years and is a medical
professional. For the last decade, he has been treating a retired Indian Army
officer, Maurice Abel in his clinic. One day, while interacting with Maurice,
Dr Das told him that his uncle too had been in the Indian Army, but he had died
quite young while in service. As the discussion progressed, Maurice, too, being
with the Signals, evinced an interest in the uncle of Dr Das and assured him
that he would try to get the details of the long lost uncle.
After a couple of months, an excited Maurice entered the chamber of Dr Das and
told him that his uncle was an iconic figure of the regiment. To commemorate
his brave sacrifice, a silver trophy has been instituted in his honour as “Das
Memorial Football Championship”. The Das Memorial Football Tournament is a
prestigious tournament of the 11 Gorkha Rifles and has been going on since
1966. The silver trophy has the figure of Lieut. Das on top of it.
Maurice also gave some contact telephone numbers of top Army officers to Dr
Das. “Getting the numbers, I contacted one of the officers, Brigadier Sen”,
disclosed Dr Das, who was recently in Guwahati. “Brigadier Sen almost
admonished me, as no member of the family had maintained any contacts with the
regiment. Nor were there any replies to the letters written to the family by
the regiment. Brigadier Sen told me that the bravery of Lieut. Das has become a
part of the regiment’s folklore.”
Replying to the formal letter written by Dr Das, Lt General PK Rampal expressed
his pleasure as finally a contact with a close relative of Lieut. Das, so
highly esteemed by the regiment, has been established. The Lt General invited
Dr Das to this year’s tournament, held in Lucknow during September.
Moved by the heroic exploits of his uncle, Dr Das has put forward a proposal to
the Army that he is ready to extend the required finances to make the
tournament popular and to organise it on a larger scale. The proposal is now
under active consideration.
While making enquires about his illustrious uncle, Dr Das also found out that
Lieut. Parbati Charan Das had also been an exceptional sportsman. He topped in
the inter-Army athletic meet in the pole vault and long jump. During his stay
in Calcutta, he was a team member of the Mohun Bagan football team and
captivated all with his superb ball control and possessing skills.
After putting quite a bit of effort, Lieut. Parbati’s nephew is meticulously
collecting and preserving all the memories related to him. It wasn’t easy for
Dr Das to collect all the documents, letters, and condolence messages as after
the death of his father, there was no one in the family to take care of them.
Along with the documents and the letters which he could retrieve, Dr Das is now
preserving the uniforms, signal training books, medals, sporting kits of his
long lost uncle.
Dr Das now strongly feels that the first Indian martyr of Kargil, though
belatedly, should get the honour that he so rightly deserves in his own home
State.
Manish Goswami
