Remarking that one day mankind should put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind, Brig Vikramjit Singh Kochhar, former station commander of the Tibri cantonment, reminisced Operation Sindoor, as a swift military response to the Pahalgam terror attack, which showcased strong coordination between the Army and the civil administration in Gurdaspur.
The Brigadier was helming men and military equipment at the Tibri cantonment, widely perceived to be one of the biggest Army areas in the country, when the sound of multiple jets was heard by residents of Gurdaspur in the wee hours of a warm May morning. He is now posted somewhere in the Northern sector.
Almost everyone in the city were jolted from their sleep at around 3 am as the jets flew overhead. Nobody could fathom their intention till dawn broke, and news started surfacing that Operation Sindoor was underway.
Kochhar knew the importance of collaborating with the district administration to ensure border villages of this district, particularly in the strategic Dera Baba Nanak area, remained safe and secure.
“In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons. I did not want this to happen. I took along with me Deputy Commissioner Dalwinderjit Singh and SSP Aditya to visit the border areas. The onus was on me to play an active role in the local security and civil-military relations in this border district which had witnessed the 1965 and 1971 wars from close quarters,” he said.
“The past mistakes were not to be repeated. We started Operation Rahat and set up Village Defence Committees (VDS) in all the border villages. An air-umbrella was created for the Tibri cantonment and adjoining areas by installing air defence systems (ADS). Villagers were told to construct community bunkers. We told them that this war was unlike the earlier wars when there were no missiles. This time only missiles were used. The villagers felt anxious earlier on but that nervousness was quickly replaced by a calm and serenity,” he added.
Brig Kochhar said one Pakistani missile was detected at Pandher village, near Tibri cantonment, after it was neutralised by the ADS. Villagers recall how scores of Army men came to their village minutes after they had heard a loud thud and subsequently cordoned off the entire area, adjoining the Gurdaspur-Mukerian highway.
Army officers say actually this operation was a different kind of a fight.
