Colonel Vasanth, who laid down his life for the nation in counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir last week, went much beyond the call of duty. Considering he was a commanding officer of an infantry battalion, 9 Maratha Light Infantry, with 900 soldiers under his command, Vasanth need not have led from the front and made himself vulnerable to enemy action. The actual frontline fighting is normally done by young officers and soldiers, who face hostile fire and therefore form the bulk of battle casualties in counter insurgency operations. However, Col Vasanth, like many of his other colleagues before him, had pride in his uniform.
Soldiers killed in a combat zone are martyrs and deserve honour and public recognition both from citizens and the government. While civil society voiced its sentiments over the death of Col Vasanth with the news media giving the death adequate coverage, the State government too had its token presence at his funeral with the district in–charge minister, deputy commissioner, a sitting MP from the State and a former Chief Minister in attendance. However what should be considered is whether military personnel killed in the line of fire, regardless of their rank, deserve more attention. Karnataka, on an average, annually receives 20-25 bodies of army personnel killed in counter-insurgency operations. Even a few days before Col Vasanth’s body arrived in the city, a Sapper from the Madras Engineer Group added to the statistics of battle casualties from Karnataka. During the Kargil operations in 1999, when the Indian Army fought fiercely, the State suffered 17 battle casualties. Since the Kargil period there have been 176 battle casualties from Karnataka.
Army personnel laying down their lives for the nation, do so, so that the rest of us may be safe and secure in our homes. Yet the nation and its citizens barely acknowledge this. The armed forces are still the last resort for many of our young when choosing their careers, yet without these brave soldiers, we cannot sleep easy in our homes. The heroic deeds of our soldiers should in fact motivate others to emulate them, instead of shrugging off their sacrifice as a given. Isn’t it time that we honoured our dead soldiers in a more befitting manner?
