November and J&K Accession: Bravehearts Who Fought Tooth & Nail To Save Kashmir

People's contention that friendly relations between India and Pakistan are impossible goes right back to 1947.

(This is part one of a four-part 'November' series that revisits significant historical events or policies and how the lessons learned from them continue to be of relevance in present-day politics and society. Read part two here, part three here, and part four here.)

It is a story so replete with valour, bravery, treachery, and more that it could sound like a tale from the Mahabharata or one of the Greek classics. The events occurred 76 years ago. Yet, their ghosts continue to haunt the Indian subcontinent.

When even sober and sensible people contend that friendly relations between India and Pakistan are an impossible mountain to climb, the roots for such a dismal assessment go right back to 1947.

There are many heroes and villains in this epic tale; but the authors decided to single out the first recipient of independent India’s highest military honour, the Param Vir Chakra (PVC) for remembrance. His younger brother went on to become the Chief of Army Staff of India between 1988 and 1990, a year in which the ghosts of partition, jihad, violence, and terror came storming back to torment Jammu & Kashmir.

We are talking about Major Somnath Sharma of Kumaon Regiment who fell on the battlefield in Badgam near Srinagar, to be posthumously awarded the PVC. He led a group of about 50 troops who were almost surrounded by an enemy that was about 15 times in number.