Bhagat Singh’s pistol was last seen in Phillaur 47 yrs ago Records show it was transferred to Indore, historians ask govt to trace it

A path-breaking finding on Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
Historians and Researchers on Shaheed Bhagat Singh have finally got  something to cheer. The Tribune has found traces about  the missing pistol used by the great freedom fighter to kill a British Police official John Sanders. The whereabouts of the pistol were not known since 1930. Anyone who can throw some further light (please contact me 9872999203; Jupinderjit Singh, Special Correspondent, The Tribune. Chandigarh)

Bhagat Singh’s pistol was last seen in Phillaur 47 yrs ago Records show it was transferred to Indore, historians ask govt to trace it

Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 7
Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s pistol with which he killed Assistant Police Superintendent John Saunders in Lahore on December 17, 1928, was last seen at the Punjab Police Academy (PPA), Phillaur, on October 7, 1969. 

The automatic .32 bore pistol of Colt US make with butt no. 460-m and body no. 168896, was transferred to the Central School of Weapon and Tactics (CSWT) of the BSF in Indore the same day. However, CSWT officials said the pistol was not exhibited in their museum. 

Earlier in its four-part series, The Tribune highlighted that researcher Aparna Vaidik had, through a rare access to case files of the martyr, found that the weapon was missing. Based on the record of 160 files lying at Punjab State Archives in Lahore, she said the weapon could be either at Lahore Fort, police malkhana, Gwalmandi, Lahore, or the PPA, Phillaur. 

On its pursuit, The Tribune found the records related to the weapon. As per a record register of the PPA, it was among the eight weapons transferred to the CSWT on October 7, 1969. Kuldip Singh, Director, PPA, said no reason had been given for the transfer of the weapon. “Eight weapons, including the martyr’s pistol, were taken to CSWT, Indore, by a BSF commandant as per our records.”

With the latest discovery, it is now known that the weapon was in India at least in 1969. Earlier, as per the records, the weapon was given to DSP (CID) NK Niaaz Ahmad Khan in Lahore on October 16, 1930. Assistant Commandant Vijay Roy, CSWT, said no such weapon was displayed in their museum at present. “We don’t have it there, but we will look into the records. It might have been transferred to another museum,” he said. Meanwhile, historians have termed it an important discovery.

 Gurdev Singh Sidhu, who has also authored a book on the martyr, said:
 “The revelation is an important discovery. We at least know that the pistol was in India and is within our reach somewhere. The Punjab Government should make efforts to trace it..” “If the pistol reached Phillaur, then the other exhibits must also be brought here,” said Harish Jain, Chandigarh-based publisher and researcher on Bhagat Singh.
first published : November 7, 2016 .. The Tribune.

learn how to respect your teachers from this Jammu police officer turned writer

Book release function with a difference
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 22
It was a book release function with a difference. Shailender Singh, an engineer-turned-MBA turned-police officer-turned-writer, invited his teachers right from his primary school to the university at the release of his novel, “Hashiye Par”, in Dogri at Amar Palace today.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations President and MP Dr Karan Singh released the novel.

“I am what I am because of my teachers. The novel is my endeavour to tell a success story of a fisherman and based on what I learnt from my teachers,” said Shailender.

Born in Chamb, now in PoK, and later studied in Jorian and other places before coming to Jammu for Higher education, Shailender said he wrote in Dogri to preserve the language.

“I hopped from one stream of education to another and one career to another before I realised my real self in writing. I am going to pursue this field now,” he told The Tribune.

The preface of the novel has been written by Dogri litterateur Padma Sachdev, while a special message commenting on the theme of the book has been penned by Dr Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer of the country.

Congratulating Shailender for taking time out of his busy schedule and writing his first book, Dr Karan Singh observed that, authoring a book by a police officer in Dogri seemed to be a good omen for the promotion of the language.

Dr Veena Gupta of the Postgraduate Department of Dogri, Jammu University, in her remarks about the book, said this young writer had drawn inspiration from the ground reality and the hardships people faced in the rural settings in their lives.

In her introductory speech, Prof Shashi Pathania, HoD, Dogri Department, Jammu University, expressed happiness that one more book had been added to the Dogri literature and hoped that Shailender would continue to enrich the language by writing more books in the coming years.

(Published in The Tribune, dated, October 23, 2010)

Daakiyan dak laayi — story of a postwoman

while surfing net, I found an old story, I did on a post woman, in early 2000, in Patiala. Now there are few other post women but she was the pioneer. Plz read on:


Daakiyan dak laayi — the only postwoman of North
From Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, April 22 — Dakiya daak laaya — so goes a popular number. But in Beat -19 of the city’s Postal Department, it is the unusual ‘daakiyan dak laayi’ as the lone female ‘postman’ of the state and probably of the northern region cycles from door to door, delivering letters.

While the entry of females in many male bastions is a recent phenomenon, Mrs Bharawanwali is one of plunge early on.

While her female colleagues preferred the comfortable environment of the few exceptions who took the an office duty, this woman took the daring step of opting for field duty 10 years ago.

A chance meeting with her at the Head Post Office here today revealed the unique persona of the brave woman. Sifting through piles of letters, she seemed completely at ease with her achievement. “What’s so unusual? Women have ventured into space and I have only broken the male dominated area of delivering letters,” she says in modesty.

Explaining her unusual name she reveals that she was named ‘Bharawanwali’ as she had five brother unlike other girls in her Lohsimili village, near Ghanaur town. Though later she had six sisters, the ‘honour’ remained.

Driven by family circumstances and the urge to be on her own, Mrs Bharawanwali enrolled herself as ‘extra department agent’ — a daily wage worker in the village Post Office to support her studies. After passing the matric exam, she got the post of a branch postmaster, in 1977 and she was promoted to the cadre of a ‘postman’. Till 1990, she worked on the counter in the office, but then the job demanded her taking up the field duty. “I agreed immediately”, she remembers. Initially there was some opposition within her family, but her husband who is in the Army egged her on to accept the challenge.

Reminiscing her first experiences, she said people were shocked to see a postwoman standing at their door step. “They still do”, she said. Women in her beat area were impressed by her courage to move about in the streets in all kinds of weather.” I am quoted as an example by the young girls of the area”, she adds proudly. A mother of a boy and girl, she has never faced any adjustment problem in her duty or work. “The day begins early. I prepare food for the children and do other household chores. Around 10.30, it is time to collect the post and then distribute it in her beat around the Bus-Stand and Lahori Gate.

The postwoman is aware of her being the only postwoman of the state and claims she is the only one in the northern region also. Mr Ramnath, Assistant Post Master (deliver), seconds her. “As per my knowledge, there are post women only in Kerala besides her in the country”. She is a source of encouragement to her male colleagues as well, when she continues the hard job in spite of all odds.

Mrs Bharawanwali said opting for such a job was not smooth but her urge to be different from other woman kept her going on. She said if there was a policy of some special allowances for women then more females would be attracted to the job.

way to go for women empowerment

80-yr-old woman fights chain snatcher
HT Correspondent , Hindustan Times
Email Author
Indore , March 10, 2010
First Published: 14:10 IST(10/3/2010)
Last Updated: 14:13 IST(10/3/2010)

Print





In a display of rare courage, 80-year-old Rama Vyas fought of a youthful chain snatcher and has become the toast of her locality. She is going to be feted by the local Annapurna police station whose incharge, inspector Gaurishankar Chadar said he had not seen an aged lady like her fighting so spiritedly.

In an incident that took place on International Women's Day on Monday, two motorcycle borne miscreants tried to snatch her gold chain, but she did not flinch. She grabbed the wrist of one of them and bit it hard, forcing him to yank it away. She fell down and hurt herself as the youth tried to free himself, but she did not let go of his hand. During this time she also raised an alarm.

Luckily for her, a couple of youths of the neighbourhood were standing nearby and hearing the commotion they rushed and caught hold of one of the duo. The other miscreant, who was on a motorcycle, sped away. The youth was handed over to the Annapurana police station of the locality by one of the youth, Golu Bagga who overpowered him.

A little while later, she was back to her normal daily routine at her house in Sudama Nagar Sector D, middle-class colony in Indore.

What prompted her to fight back? “I have always been determined and independent throughout my life and when the miscreant attempted to snatch my chain, I decided to teach him a lesson. Since I had no weapon at hand, I bit him hard,” she said. Did she not fear that the miscreant might counter-attack? “No, that thought did not enter my mind,” she said nonchalantly.

Her grandson Gaurav Vyas, who stays with her along with his mother, wife and three-year-old daughter, said "my grandmother is the head of the family, and she takes her own decisions. Though she has studied till only Class 8 and has never worked outside her home, she has a steely determination in her which we see everyday."

Annapurna police station in charge Gaurishankar Chadar said he had never come across an incident where an 80-year-old woman has fought so spiritedly. “What struck me was that all her teeth are intact, which she put to good use. We are going to honour her and the youth Golu Bagga who caught the miscreant,” the Town Inspector said.

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this is real work on international women day....a girl leaves corporate world to be sarpanch of rajasthan village

sarpanch|Chhavi Rajawat|LSR
Chhavi Rajawat
Firmly in the saddle: Chhavi Rajawat is the sarpanch of Soda village, about 60km from Jaipur

by anindo dey,,times of india, jaipur
JAIPUR: For most, it would be a step back. But for 30-year-old Chhavi Rajawat, leaving behind corporate glamour and city life to head back to her village Soda, 60km from Jaipur, as its sarpanch has been a journey to her roots. She says she's paying her debt to the village she grew up in.

A student of Rishi Valley Bangalore and Lady Shriram College, Rajawat topped up her education with a business management degree. She worked with five comapanies in various capacities before changing focus.

But today, as Chhavi heads NREGA meetings in her village dressed in jeans and T-shirt, she is fast emerging as the changing face of rural Rajasthan. "It should change. There is so much one can do," she says.

"In fact, my business management degree is helping me take care of the village better. It is a sort of social work that runs in my blood," says the woman who became sarpanch on February 4.

And it is a change that Chhavi attributes to her grandfather Brig Raghubir Singh. As sarpanch of Soda, years ago, he had made Chhavi's mother drive through the village without a veil. Villagers looked surprised as the car entered but no one uttered a word.

Rajawat says she waded into politics, backed by the villagers. "There was an uprising against the sarpanch. The villagers did not want him and though I was pitched against his wife and another woman, I managed to win. The villagers see me as the daughter of the village and wanted me to contest," she says.

Chhavi Rajawat, the corporate girl-turned-sarpanch from Rajasthan, says she’s used to rural life. "I am used to it. I grew up playing with kids of farmers. Besides, my parental house is in Soda, so I spend time there and don’t miss anything. I am pretty comfortable," she says. Besides being sarpanch, she also tends to a hotel that the family owns in Jaipur and the numerous horses that are part of her riding school. "It’s a passion," she explains.

She’s also trying to change mindsets. "Villagers have got used to not working and taking partial payment for NREGA. I have to change that. I go on surprise visits and give them a scolding or two if they are not working," she says. "But my focus is on bringing safe drinking water and increasing job opportunities in the village by involving NGOs," says Rajawat.

lohri for girls

Lohri for the girl child: Fazilka's novel, noble tradition

Raakhi Jagga
Published in The Indian Express.
Fazilka, January 11, 2010

Maya Devi, in her 30s, working as a domestic help in Fazilka, was pleasantly surprised at being honoured for giving birth to a girl. Already a mother of 4 girls, the baby girl was "the result of another chance to try for a boy". But today she had tears in her eyes when a local NGO —Sarhad Kesari — celebrated Lohri for her six-month-old Naina. She said, "I have finally decided to get my tubectomy operation done in a couple of months. No longer will I try for a boy when girls can bring such an honour."

None of her daughters — the eldest is six years old — goes to school. "But from the coming session, I will send my daughters to school. They should not suffer and should get education," she added, hopeful of "government schemes" bringing her help. Her husband, a daily wager, was too overwhelmed to say anything.

Maya Devi was not the only one who was honoured; a total of 151 parents were honoured today at Ram Palace here. The occasion was their daughters' first Lohri. As per the prevailing tradition, the first Lohri of a male child is celebrated with much fanfare in the region.

Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, who was the chief guest, blessed the girls and appreciated the initiative of the NGO.

K K Nagpal, the man behind the initiative, said, "We started this initiative 2-3 years ago to preach that there is no difference between a boy and a girl. We announce the celebration of Lohri for girls and when the number of applicants reaches 151, we close the registration. The parents are given gifts for the kids."

"Even in the affluent class, whenever a girl is born, people don't even inform anyone, while a son's birth is celebrated with pomp and show. We want to make a difference by celebrating Lohri for the girl child," he added.

Devki, another mother whose husband is a labourer was busy opening the gifts her daughter Riya got. Riya is eight months old and is the second child of the family. Devki said,"I had a son earlier and we celebrated Lohri of our son with as much money as we could. This time, we are celebrating Riya's Lohri in a better fashion."

Rita and husband Raj Kumar were, however, not as upbeat — not because they were reluctant participants. "It is good that we have come here with our five-month-old daughter Jaya, but we won't be able to carry this tradition back home because our families are too rigid and won't agree," Kumar rued. "We will try to give the best to our daughter by educating her so that she can be self-dependent," added Rita.

Apart from people from below poverty line, local businessmen, doctors, engineers also took part. Neha Grover was one of them with her nine-month-old daughter Mannat. She said, "Such programmes inspire the society to treat girls on par with boys."

Chawla announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for Sarhad Kesari.

how to save girls....learn from Manjit Kaur of Ludhiana

saviour of girl child

Raakhi Jagga
Published in The Indian Express
Jan, 16, 2010.

Manjit Kaur paid Rs 10,000 to the woman who gave birth to a female child to make sure that they did not kill her. In order to save the girl, already a mother of two boys, Manjit took that baby home in Himmat Singh Nagar because the parents who gave birth to her never wanted to keep her.

The girl, who was born on July 18, 2009, was given the name — Harjapji. Sukhwinder Singh, husband of Manjit, and now also father of Harjapji, is an employee in a hosiery factory. He said, “With a small income and already having two sons, it was not possible for us to bring up third child but when we came to know that the neighbourhood family had plans to throw their infant baby girl, we offered them to adopt the baby.”

The couple narrated their story at Lohri Mela organised by Malwa Sabhacharak Manch held in the city recently and they were even honoured for this cause.

He added, “Manjit always wanted to have a girl and but God gave us sons, so we never wanted to lose this chance. However we were stunned when the family demanded Rs 25,000 from us as hospital expenses. I did not have so much of money and finally they agreed to give us the girl by paying Rs 10,000.”
Singh said, “We requested the family that at least for 40 days, they should keep the girl with them so that the baby could get proper nourishment through breast-feeding. However the family was in a hurry and they handed over the baby in just after 15 days and left the place

The family was living in a rented accommodation and Harjapjiwas was their second girl child. Now they are no longer in touch with Manjit and Sukhwinder.

The couple’s sons, Sukhbir (9) and Manjot (8), are also too excited these days to play with their sister. Manjit laughs, “Both take care of their sister so much and they hardly leave any work for me. But when the girl was brought to our house, she was sick and very weak, and was even hospitalised for a few days. But with God’s grace, she is hale and hearty now.”

The couple’s bold step however has sent a strong message to many affluent families as well to those who always yearn for sons, reject their daughters and also for the masses at large because of whose mindset, the female sex ratio is falling in Punjab .
Manjit and Sukhwinder said, “We will try to give best of education to this baby and will let her make her dreams come true. Girls deserve much more love than what the families give to their sons. But it is sad that people still do not realise it."The couple said, “Harjapji is now 6-month-old and she has been very lucky for the family. Our financial condition has improved a lot since she she became a part of our family.”

when a bank account saved 28 persons in srinagar

Judge’s bank account proves saviour for 28
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune news service

Jammu, January 7
The account of a Jammu-based High Court judge with Punjab National Bank, Lal Chowk, Srinagar, proved to be a saviour for 28 persons, including two women, trapped inside the bank last night following the fidayeen attack.

Bank manager Shaukat Ahmed showed his presence of mind and looked for details of persons and account holders who could help them as all phone calls to the police control room proved futile.

Shaukat along with 16 bank employees and 12 account holders was trapped in the bank since about 3 pm yesterday, when the attack started. They were eventually rescued around 8 pm as they were not noticed by the police in an earlier operation in which 25 others were rescued.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone, Shaukat said he found the account and phone details of a judge of the state High Court.

The judge called up Senior Advocate General Ali Mohammad Magray, who in turn called up a Jammu-based TV journalist for help.

Magray told The Tribune that the TV journalist called up senior police officials in Srinagar, but they did not believe him initially.

The police had rescued 25 persons and it thought no one was left inside the bank.

However, at the instance of the TV journalist and Magray, a senior police official called on the bank’s land line phone and on getting a response a rescue operation was started.

Shaukat said his calls to the police control room had proved futile and it was just his luck that he could get in touch with the judge.

If you think only Rukhsana was a brave heart in fight against terrorism, read this......

Spectrum, Sunday Tribune Dated December -6, 2009


Tales of valour

Rukhsana from Rajouri district recently shot to fame for having killed a militant. There
are several other civilians in the region who have fought militancy but their bravery
has not been highlighted, reports Ashutosh Sharma from Jammu

AFTER having killed a dreaded militant and injuring another, a small girl, Rukhsana, belonging to a remote village, Kalsi, near the famous shrine of Shahdara Shahrief in Rajouri district, has shot to fame and is being acclaimed as a mascot of civilian war against terrorism. Her bravery has duly been recognised by the government and security forces. Several awards, citations and applauds have fallen into her kitty.



The civilians in the Jammu region who have taken on militants on their own, are today living in fear and penury. They feel betrayed at the hands of the administration and the armed forces


But there are several others in the same district who gunned down terrorists when insurgency was at its peak. They are not as lucky as Rukhsana, and after slaying militants, all they have got is momentary recognition. Today, they are compelled to live a life of fear, penury and betrayal at the hands of the civil administration and the armed forces.

With an aim to creating a fear psychosis among the people, those were the days when the terrorists were making selective killings and setting ablaze the houses of minorities in the region. It followed panic migration. Most of the internally displaced people are living a miserable life away from their homes.

The chilly night of December 31, 1999, never gets over in the psyche of Chain Singh. In a small village, Dagal Halal, a family was sitting around a chullah cooking dinner. Suddenly, Chain Singh spotted a group of dreaded terrorists heading towards his house. He confronted them with a 303 rifle, and then opened fire. What followed was a fierce volley of bullets from the militants.

While his son was away, his elder daughter Bindu started assisting her father in the gunfight. The encounter continued for five hours all through the night. While the militants were lobbing grenades and spraying bullets with the most sophisticated weapons, the father and his brave daughter retaliated with a simple vintage gun. One terrorist was killed, forcing the others to flee. Village defence committee members came to his rescue before the security forces could reach the spot.

The dead terrorist was identified as a foreign mercenary, and the security forces recovered one AK-47 riffle, two magazines, 40 rounds of ammunition and one wireless set. Another militant shot at by his daughter was found dead at some distance the next day.

Says Chain Singh: "We had to leave the village in the wake of threats from militants. I and my family migrated to Sunder Bani town. Away from our fields, survival of my family comprising 10 members was a challenge."

Singh, who is an employee of the Public Health Engineering Department, says: "We lived in a temporary shelter for many years after migrating to Sunder Bani. My daughters cleaned utensils at homes of people, and are still doing menial jobs for earning a livelihood. During all these years in exile, the government did not give us even 5 kg of ration as relief. However, the Army rewarded my daughter with Rs 5,000. After I married off one of my daughters in the same village, her home was attacked thrice, and now her family is settled in Himachal Pradesh."

Balwant Singh, who heads the VDC in Tatta Pani village in Kalakote tehsil, as villagers say, is feared by the terrorists. Officially, he has gunned down three dreaded militants, but he claims he has shot five. The lean man — sporting a turban, thick beard and moustaches — has an iron will. He always has a smile on his face and finds it adventurous killing militants.

He first encountered a group of five militants hiding in bushes. The year was 2004. He does not recall the month. The militants were unaware of his presence. He challenged them, and opened fire with his 303 riffle, killing two on the spot and injuring others, making them flee the spot.

An year later, while he was roaming with the gun hung across his shoulder and a wireless set in the hand, he heard a message on the wireless set. A Punjabi-speaking Pakistani militant was on the line. He spoke to him normally and gave him the impression as if he was also a militant. The militant had lost track in the forest and had no option but to believe him. The militant approached Balwant for help, but was shot dead by the latter.

"I have assisted the security forces many a time and killed militants, but the officials concerned got the killings registered in their names," he maintains, and adds: In the first case, I got Rs 15,000 as cash reward, and in the second I got Rs 50,000."Balwant has now taken to driving. He runs a tempo service on the Kalakote-Rajouri road.

But despite his hard efforts, he has failed to sustain the educational expenses of his sons — Ravi Singh (19) and Sanjay Singh (13). Both of them are school dropouts and have studied up to the eighth standard only.

While Ravi is a labourer, his younger brother Sanjay works stays at home, doing household chores and farming. His life took a U-turn one day. He says: "I was implicated in a case and remained behind the bars for seven months in Tangri Central Jail, Rajouri, and the case is still going on. The police retrieved its automatic weapon and wireless set after that. Now, the department has again issued a 303 rifle to me after I requested for security," says Balwant." During my free time I keep wandering in the dense forests looking for militants," he says with a broad smile on his face.

Another VDC member, Madan Lal (55) of Bagla in Kalakote tehsil, is a worried man. He killed a militant when a group of heavily armed militants was coming to his house. He is now facing threats from militant outfits. He recalls: "It was June 3,2003, and the time was 12.45 pm. I spotted four men — two coming towards my house, while the other two were heading towards the house adjacent to mine. I fired with my 303 riffle, and shot one militant there. Then the entire village reverberated with gunshots for several hours."

He kept militants engaged single-handedly till the security forces came to his rescue. The militants fled, and the security forces camped at the village to thwart any further attempt on his family.

The security forces have now been withdrawn from the village. "After great efforts, the administration has now deputed some cops. They are camping in my home. Like other villagers, I do not charge anything from the security forces as they are for our safety, but we want the Army in the village as militants do have a large presence in the area," he adds."

I fired in self-defence as I perceived a threat to me and my family. Without giving any second thought, I fired at the militant, and he died. It was not an act of heroism in any way. It was a do or die situation, and I did what I felt most appropriate in the given circumstances," says Balwant. The police gave him Rs 25,000 as cash reward for killing the militant and recruited one of his sons.

He is constantly afraid of threats being given to him by dreaded militant organisations like the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami. While serving the Indian Army he killed scores of militants, and even after retirement he does the same. Presently, Special Police Officer (SPO) Ram Prasad (45) of Doda district claims to have gunned down more than 100 militants till now. Though he got scores of certificates acknowledging his bravery, he had to migrate along with family.






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when few footballers saved Srinagar-------a rare story of civilian courage

M A I N N E W S


62 years on, tribal invasion fresh on his mind
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Jagannath and his wife at Bakshi Nagar, Jammu. Photo: Inderjeet Singh


Jammu, October 22
As the world today remembers the tribal invasion of Jammu and Kashmir, 85-year-old Jagannath Thapar sits in the verandah of his house at Bakshi Nagar here, remembering how a crude combination of 300 youths, a bunch of football players, a buried brass canon of Hari Singh Nalwa and a madari changed history by delaying for two days the advance of the tribals to the valley 62 years ago.

“But for those curious events, the kabayili (tribals) would have reached the valley and history of the region would have been different, and definitely against India,” claims the retired sub-inspector of JK police, holding a small notebook in his trembling hands.

As he speaks in a highly-animated tone, his aged wife, who cannot walk and is hard of hearing, gently holds his hands. And why should not she? For, it was during this attack that the two had come together, far away in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). And the bond continues till date.

Those were unusual times and the story of these youths was the most unusual. “Please write about it. Let the world investigate,” he implores.

Jagannath was one among lakhs of migrants who came to India during the tribal invasion in October 1947 from areas falling under PoK. “We lost everything, but not before putting up probably the only civilian resistance to the tribals, which history failed to record,” Thapar, who was 23 then, says. “We were crazy about football. There was a talk of Partition but we never believed it. We played football with bare feet on the vast ground between a fort of Hari Singh Nalwa and the Jhelum river outside Muzaffarabad.”

Thapar recalls: “The ball often used to fall in the mighty river and no one could recover it. It was a terrible loss. A football cost a few rupees then. We scrapped for even one paisa in our pockets. Eventually, we thought of clearing bushes inside the fort and play there.

The high walls of the fort would have kept the football inside.” While digging a mound to level the ground, they found a brass canon. “It had inscription in Gurmukhi. We were afraid the cops will punish us. We left it there.” The political and communal scenario changed rapidly within a few months. “People had not left their homes after the creation of Pakistan in August 1947 but then we heard of the tribal attacks.”

The residents of Muzaffarabad, he says, were quite rich and knew the tribals would target them. “The Indian troops had not reached there and no one trusted the army of Maharaja Hari Singh, as it included 80 per cent Muslims. Then, one evening we saw a madari showing how a trained sparrow ignited blast in a small canon he carried.”

The bunch of footballers, he claims, got the idea of using the buried canon. “We told the elders and soon the canon was readied for our defence. We got eight .12 bore rifles, which we looted from the forest office. People manufacturing crackers for Diwali provided us with ammunition.”

The 300 youths and their families and others gathered in the large house of judge Gopal Krishan Anand and placed the canon on a mound. “The tribals, under the guidance of Pakistan army, were advancing towards our colony. One Azim Khan was leading them. An army officer, Lt Col Narayan Singh, of Maharaj’s army had already been killed by Muslim soldiers under him.”

Jagannath claimed when they fired at the advancing tribals from the canon, the Pakistan army thought Indian troops had reached there. “They stopped and we kept them engaged for two days. Many tribals ran saying the Indian Army is here.”

However, the youths were overpowered by October 23 night as the ammunition finished. “Two hundred of us were killed. They looted everything we had. In fact, our wealth also saved Kashmir, as a large number of tribals went back to their villages as they got much more gold and jewellery and pounds than they had imagined they would get after capturing Kashmir.”

A very few, including Jagannath reached India. They stayed in camps in Kurukshetra, Uttar Pradesh, Yol Camp and eventually reached Jammu eight years later. “Our sacrifice helped Kashmir, but till date I have not got the permission to visit my family, the fort and the football ground. We have got peanuts in compensation as compared to other migrants who moved from one part of India to another,” complains Thapar, adding he desired of getting erected a memorial in Muzaffarabad in the memory of the youths (his companions) who laid down their lives.







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