What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
DRASS/ KARGIL: More than two decades later, Mohammad Yusuf Lone’s memory is still fresh as morning dew. The former army man from Khandial in Drass was tending his animals at Tololing Hill when he first spotted the presence of Pakistani troops.
Lone’s instinct quickly sensed the possibilities and he promptly informed the presence of enemies in Indian territories. The rest, as they say, was history but it was Lone’s quick thinking that perhaps helped the Indian forces in the larger context.
Lone, who was 39 then, today lives with his wife and three children in his wooden house in his village.
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Recalling the day, as The New Indian visited the 62-year-old at his village, Lone said he was never scared when came face to face with the enemy soldiers – who were oblivious of his presence.
“I was never scared. I worked with the Indian Army as Naik for 16 years, till 1991. After retirement, I worked as a farmer and a herdsman. I often take my herd to Tololing Hill for grazing,” said Lone.
It was his son who first spotted some persons in Pakistan Army uniform on May 9 afternoon. “They came and informed him that the Indian Army might be in Hill. When he told me about the incident, I knew that it can’t be our army. So, I went there with the animals again to see them myself. I found the movement of three-four suspicious men over there,” said Lone.
“I came down and informed Naik Jai Bhagwan. He reported to Major Bhupinder. They asked me to go there again with Jai Bhagwan and check,” Lone said, adding, “Next day, they called me again and I met Major Khurana.”
“On May 12, at 3 pm, I was asked to go with two companies and one platoon of 16 grenadiers to Tololing Hill. I spent a night with the army on the Hill. We ate ‘khichri’,” Lone recalled, adding, “Next day, to ascertain we opened artillery fire and soon Pakistan army started bombing golas.”
He was sent back and the fight began. The battle continued for over one and a half months.
“Many of the men and women from my village fled. I worked as a porter during the war and provided food and eatables to our men on Hill,” he added.
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Talking about Captain Vikaram Batra, who was martyred in the battle, Lone said, “Before his last battle, he told me that he was going, mere liye dua karna (pray for me)… It hurt a lot when I got to know that he was dead.”
Lone was thankful that he spotted the Pakistani army intruders. “I was told by the Indian Army that they wanted to block the main link of Kashmir with India. Had I not informed them, the Pakistan army would have entered and casualties would have been more.”
Lone is now constructing a small guest house, keeping in mind the influx of tourists in the area following the war. “It will be ready in a few months and I would name it Tololing Hotel,” he said, implying the impact of THAT one incident in his life.
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