In Ramayana, Lakshmana falls unconscious, hit by an arrow
of Indrajit. Lankan Royal Physician
Sushena when approached advises that a
particular herb be brought. On his
advice, Pavanaputhra Hanuman rushes
Dronagiri Hills to fetch four
plants: Mruthasanjeevani (restorer of life), Vishalyakarani (remover of
arrows), Sandhanakarani (restorer of the skin) and Savarnyakarani (restorer of
skin colour) (Srimad Valmiki Ramayana, 74th chapter, Yuddakanda, Slokas
29-34). The wise Hanuman himself could not
pick the four from the multitude, lifts
and carries the hill itself ~ and Lakshmana was revived from near death back to
life, and to victory. Alongside hundreds of vanara senai killed in action too
gets revived – but none from the side of Ravana .. .. .. if one were to ask why
? – whether the herbs would act on selective basis ? – it is stated that Ravana
in trying to hide the numbers killed from his side, dumped the bodies into the
sea !
India
and Pakistan have common history and shared boundaries but the hatred has been
enormous – it is not at wars of 1965 and 1971 but in earlier days, or even pre-colonial communal hatred. Pak has constantly spoken ill, done harm to
Indians and hence is not a Country to be believed. Late
one night in the summer of 2009, four improvised 107-millimetre rockets arced
over the Pul Kanjari border outpost, and exploded in the wheat-fields outside
the Punjab village of Attari. It was an
assault over the border, not occurring in war times. Those at the border says that such attacks
are not entirely unheard of and there have always been skirmishes. During the earlier Manmohan regime, soldiers
were beheaded and India can never forget the wounds of Mumbai under siege –
that 26/11.
In
2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had mobilised the army, threatening
war against Pakistan to punish the Jaish-e-Muhammad’s attack on Parliament. The
decision wasn’t a casual one. Even though India had won the Kargil war in 1999,
Pakistan had stepped up covert warfare in Kashmir. Fatalities of security force
personnel, inside Kashmir, surged from 183 in 1999, to 241 in 2000 and 248 in
2002. Months later, India backed down— perhaps deterred by Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and by
International pressure. From the confidante of General Pervez Musharraf, General Moinuddin Haider, it is heard that the long-term costs of continuing to back
jihadists would be higher than the potential losses from taking them on.
The
United States said on Sunday it was trying to find out if Pakistan used
US-built F-16 jets to down an Indian warplane, potentially in violation of US
agreements, as the stand-off between the nuclear-armed neighbours appeared to
be easing. A Pakistan military spokesman denied Indian claims that Pakistan
used F-16 jets. The man who downed the F16 jet, fell and caught in the process,
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, became the
face of the tense military confrontation – walking back with head high. His proverbial comment ‘ I am not supposed to share this’ is hailed
everywhere. He is back – walking through
Wagah border after being handed over.
Reports suggest that he has conveyed to the IAF brass that he wants to
return to the cockpit as soon as possible.
For the last two days, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot has been
undergoing medical treatment at a military hospital.
On
Wednesday, he became the first IAF pilot to shoot down an F-16 fighter jet
during an aerial combat with the Pakistani Air Force. Abhi Varthaman was captured by the Pakistani
Army after his MiG-21 Bison jet was hit in a fierce dog-fight.He returned to
India to a hero's welcome on Friday night.His health condition is being
monitored by a group of doctors at the Army's Research and Referral hospital, the
officials said. The officials said Varthaman has been in high spirits despite
the harassment he suffered in Pakistan.
Varthaman arrived in the national
capital on an IAF flight around 11:45 pm Friday, 1st Mar 2019, nearly two-and-half hours after he crossed
over to India through the Attari-Wagah border. The IAF pilot was first taken to
the Air Force Central Medical Establishment (AFCME), a compact and specialised
medical evaluation centre for aircrew of all the three services.
After
he was captured, Varthaman showed courage and grace in handling the most
difficult circumstances for which he has been praised by politicians, strategic affairs
experts, ex-servicemen, celebrities and people in general. Defence Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman and Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa met Varthaman separately on
Saturday during which he apprised them about the mental trauma he was subjected
to during his captivity in Pakistan. During the meeting, the defence minister
commended him on his valour and expressed the nation's gratitude for his
selfless service.
Even
as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman walked across the India-Pakistan border
on 1 March, a family in Pakistan is in mourning — silent, blacked out from the
public view, their sacrifice unacknowledged. Pakistan Air Force Wing Commander
Shahaz-ud-Din, the F-16 pilot shot down in a dogfight over the Nowshera sector,
is reported to have been lynched by a mob who mistook him for an Indian airman.
Both men, in one of those strange twists history revels in, come from
illustrious military families: Wing Commander Varthaman’s father, S Varthaman,
as Air Marshal; Shahaz-ud-Din’s father, Waseem-ud-Din, is also an Air Marshal
of the Pakistan Air Force, who has flown F-16 and Mirages.
The
two engaged each other in the air; one
was taken a prisoner of war and has returned home, while the other was killed
by his own people.The goddess of war, it is said, is fickle with her favours —
but few twists of fate exist in the annals of history to match this one. The
news that Shahaz-ud-Din's plane was shot down was first reported by
London-based lawyer Khalid Umar, who says he received it privately, from
individuals related to the F-16 pilot’s family. Umar’s account says that
Shahaz-ud-Din parachuted out of his aircraft safely, but was then attacked by a
Paki mob after the F-16 crash-landed —
possibly in the Laam valley, stretching out westward from Naushehra into
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Shahaz-ud-Din, Umar has claimed, was hospitalised,
but succumbed to his injuries. The mob had mistaken him for an Indian soldier –
thus he was killed by his own people.
The
PAF Wing Commander flew for the 19 Squadron, also known as the ‘Sher-Dils’, who
served with distinction in the war of 1965 and 1971.Pakistani military
spokesperson Major-General Asif Ghafoor had asserted, on the morning of 28
February, that two Indian jets had been shot down and two Indian pilots injured
— one of whom was in army custody, and the other in the hospital. Later in the
evening, Major-General Ghafoor stated that only one Indian pilot was in
Pakistan Army custody, without explaining his earlier comments. In the 1999
Kargil War, Pakistan had denied its troops were involved — leading to protests
in Pakistan’s northern areas, from where the Northern Light Infantry is drawn.
Eleven
years after the Kargil War, Pakistan’s army officially acknowledged its role,
naming 453 soldiers and officers killed in the 1999 conflict. Captain Karnal
Sher and Havildar Lalak Jan, who were both killed on 7 July, 1999, were awarded
Pakistan’s highest honour, the Nishan-e-Haider, but were not acknowledged as
Kargil war casualties until November 2010.
Such things do not happen in Indian side, where soldiers get their due.
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
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