25 Years of Kargil War: The Heroic Story of Captain Saurabh Kalia, the First Martyr of the 1999 War

Kargil Vijay Diwas: Today, 25 years have passed since the Kargil War, and the country is celebrating Kargil Vijay Diwas in memory of the great martyrs who made the ultimate sacrifice and showed bravery to win this difficult war for India. In this war, many young army officers lost their lives, one of whom was Captain Saurabh Kalia. 25 years ago, Captain Saurabh Kalia was the first to be martyred in the Kargil War. He and his five fellow soldiers were captured by the Pakistani army and subjected to brutal torture for 22 days before being killed. At the time of the war, Saurabh Kalia was just 22 years old.

In December 1998, Saurabh Kalia completed his training from IMA and was posted to 4 Jat Regiment in Kargil in February 1999. He had joined the army just four months before his death.

The Indian army had left their posts due to snowfall in the high mountains of Ladakh and Siachen. The Pakistani army occupied the vacant posts of the Indian army. This was revealed when a local resident, Tashi Namgyal, went to graze his cattle in those areas and saw Pakistani soldiers with weapons.

Captain Saurabh Kalia's team was sent for patrolling

On May 3, 1999, Tashi Namgyal informed the Indian army, which sent Captain Saurabh Kalia and five soldiers, Arjun Ram, Bhika Ram, Bhawar Lal Bagaria, Moola Ram, and Naresh Singh, for patrolling. The army became tense when Captain Saurabh Kalia's patrolling team did not return, but no one at the post knew that Saurabh and his companions would never return alive.

Captain Kalia's team was captured after running out of ammunition

In the Kaksar area of Kargil, near the Line of Control (LoC), Captain Saurabh's team and Pakistani soldiers clashed for several hours, but Captain Kalia's team did not have enough ammunition to fight for long. Finally, the Indian soldiers ran out of ammunition and were captured alive by the Pakistani army, and Saurabh and his companions were subjected to brutality for 22 days.

After 22 days of captivity, the bodies of the young army officer and five soldiers were returned to the Indian side. The Kalia family was devastated when they received their son's body, which was mutilated beyond recognition. The most disturbing aspect was that the bodies showed signs of brutal torture by the Pakistani army. Before killing them, their ears were pierced with hot iron rods, lips and noses were cut off, eyes were gouged out, and private parts were also mutilated. Later, they were shot dead.

The Kalia family identified Saurabh's body from his eyebrows

The Kalia family had difficulty identifying Saurabh's body. In a media interview, Saurabh's brother, Vaibhav Kalia, said, “At that time, we could not even identify his body. There was nothing left on his face. No eyes, no ears, only eyebrows were left. They were like my eyebrows, so we could identify his body.”

The Kalia family has been demanding that Pakistan be punished and those responsible for this heinous act be brought to justice under international law, as the brutality inflicted on the six soldiers violated the Geneva Convention protocols. According to official records, 527 Indian soldiers were martyred and 1,363 were injured in the Kargil War. Most of the martyred officers were very young and had recently joined the army.