Kargil Special: Meet Tashi Nambiyal, the man who first noticed Pakistani troops in Kashmir

, July 23: Meet the man who saved a lot of damage in the Kargil war. Richa Bajpai of OneIndia News met Tashi Nambiyal, a resident of the Gharkon village, who was the first one to spot suspicious activities at the Batalik sector and inform the Army. In a 30 minute interview with him, Tashi revealed how he chanced upon Pakistani infiltrators at the Drass peak, while looking for his lost Yak.

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Informing the Army

"I lost my Yak close to the Gharkubd rivulet and was looking for it. At one point I was at the peak of a mountain from where I coud see a few men at the Tibetan monastry at the Batalik Sector peak. First, I thought it was the army patrolling the area, but I noticed something unusual. These people seemed to be breaking stones and filling them with snow. I immediately knew I was facing Pakistani infiltrators who were up to something in the cover of the snow."

However, Tashi was initially misguided by the small path that the infiltrators had made, thinking it was the yak that may have wandered off there. Sensing danger, he ran off to the Surah rivulet, which was the Army camp then. He informed Hawaldar Nandu Singh from the Punjab regiment about it. After a few questions, the hawaldar and the two military intelligence officers there realised that something was really wrong.

At that time 25 of the contingent members had gone for patrolling, but they informed that they did not see anything unusual. The men called the Batalik sector, but no one answered their call. Following this, the Hawaldar went to Batalik and informed the CO. Tashi was asked to stay at home and help them trace the militants the next day.

The war began after 8 days

One Lieutenant and GCO and 25 soldiers accompanied Tashi the next day to the Batalik peak and confirmed that there were Pakistani infiltrators who had already built a post for themselves. At that time, Kargil had just one Brigade and the communication was also poor. The Army managed to inform the defence administration about the same through wireless technology.

The war began just 8 days after the incident.

OneIndia News