One man stood like a rock between Pakistani Lashkars and Poonch in Nov 1947. Forty thousand refugees depended on him for a year for food, shelter and protection from the raiders. Braving all odds, he built an airstrip and daring pilots like Baba Mehar Singh flew in supplies and ammunition till the siege broke.This man was a hero. He led his forces to victory in the Battle of Shalateng saving Srinagar before Poonch. This man had an iron will. Held as a POW by the Japanese in Singapore, he escaped with two fellow officers, travelling through enemy-held Malaya, Thailand and Burma for six months before reaching India. The British awarded him the Military Cross (MC).This man served India like no other. But his Generals punished him, denied him justice, court-martialled and dismissed him. They stripped him of his medals, but could not take away his MC. He died forlorn and unsung.This man was Brigadier Pritam Singh, MC. The people of Poonch call him Sher Bachha and worship him. Even today. This soldier-patriot deserves to have his honour restored. This is his story.

An illustrated history of operations in Kashmir by 4th Battalion the Kumaon Regiment (4 Kumaon) during India-Pakistan War (1965).

Description The war with Pakistan in December 1971 lasted barely two weeks. It concluded on 16 December with a victory for India and the formation of Bangladesh. But there is a lesser known side to this epic military confrontation-that of the western front, namely Jammu and Kashmir. While many contests on this side of India's border were won, some battles were illfated. The heroic battle at Daruchhian in the Poonch Sector was one of them. A cone-shaped feature, approximately 1,000 metres in height, Daruchhian was of great tactical significance. The fierce clash on its slopes on the night of 13 December, however, could not ensure its capture. Many Indian soldiers were martyred, and the survivors taken prisoner, including Brigadier (then Major) Hamir Singh, VrC. Heavily injured in battle, he underwent a prolonged recovery at the Command Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, followed by an internment at the POW camp in Lyallpur. Hamir Singh's eyewitness account, recorded by the author, his son Maj Gen Vijay Singh, narrates in riveting detail what took place on that fateful night and what followed. From battle plans that were too perfect to succeed, to soldiers who didn't give up, enemies who honoured each others' professionalism, Pakistanis nostalgic about pre-Partition India, and the shared sorrow and joy that dissolve boundaries of nation and religion, POW 1971 gives us a view of war, valour and humanity that is as heart-wrenching as it is moving.

The Current condition of each citizen, the society, and the nation are the result of a deeply complex history. But what we know from history books, especially academic textbooks, are constructs based on the narratives of political powers, colonists, and outdated socioeconomic analysts. The time has come to know and understand our true history from fresh and updated perspectives. The subject of this book is how foreign ideologies and forces Christian, Islamic, and later colonists, western and Marxists' profound and long-term influence have impacted India, her society, and people. With a computer science back- ground, Kanchan Banerjee makes this remarkable and significant contribution, attempting to depict the current era with unique and lively storytelling using carefully studied evidence, logical deduction, and analysis. He has given detailed and comprehensive descriptions and assessments from pre-Islamic Arabia's history, foreign attacks and invasions of the Huns, the Turks to the Islamic rule and occupation in Delhi, and the British colonial and imperial atrocities. How did the crash and fall of a great ancient civilization happen? How has it been wounded the body and soul of a nation to break into several pieces? And what is the way to change the direction to the path of recovery and revival? This book is an effort to find the answers to these questions from our true history. If we know our past, we can change our future as well.

On Pakistani soldiers detained in India as prisoners of war, December 1971-April 1974.

3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) was raised in March 1813 at Chudderghat ( now Chaderghat) on the banks of the Musi river in Hyderabad under the auspices of Henry Russell as 1stBattalion, The Russell’s Brigade. After having undergone eight name changes since it’s raising it assumed its present name in April 2004. Ever since its raising, it has covered itself with glory, first as part of the Hyderabad Contingent of the State Forces of the Nizam of Hyderabad, then as part of the forces of the Madras Presidency Army of the East India Company, the Indian Army under the British and finally after Independence, as part of the Indian Army of free India. During its history of over two hundred years, the Battalion has a proud record of having acquitted itself with distinction both at home and abroad in various theatres of operations. Prior to Independence in 1947 individuals of the Battalion had earned 157 awards for Gallantry and Distinguished Service and post-Independence till date 392.

This book is a result of research undertaken on the subject by the scholars associated with the IDSA project on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) - also known as Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) - which includes both the so-called "Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)" and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). This was legally a part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which acceded to India in October 1947. The authors of this book seek to provide a critical analysis of the politics of the above mentioned two regions within PoK; throw light on the genesis and evolution of various political parties and interest groups, and acquaint the readers with different personalities playing important role in politics therein. The main aim of the publication is to help the scholars, analysts, and policy-makers to understand the dynamics of the political systems in PoK, the complex interaction of these systems with the government in Islamabad and the responses of the local leadership to Pakistan's strategy of keeping them under strict control in the name of representative governance over the last 70 years.