Poonch8217;s legend of valour lives on

Lt Col Pritam Singh reached Poonch with his forces, but mistaking him to be the enemy, the local princely state forces in Poonch blew up the Kahuta bridge leading to Poonch. Though he managed to reach here with some of his troops, a majority of his men could not make it. Pritam Singh was promoted to the rank of a Brigadier and ordered to defend Poonch at all costs.

8220;The terrain of the land is like a bowl. Poonch is at the base, surrounded by high mountainson all sides. The Pakistan Army was on all the mountain tops and bombarded Poonch from the heights. Brigadier Pritam Singh was asked to abandon Poonch and fall back to Jammu. But he did not. A large number of refugees from Pakistan had also come down to Poonch and were living there without food or water.

Brigadier Singh shared the meagre Army rations with 40,000 refugees. And they all loved him for that. They promised their support to him. He along with the local people raised two units of local militia,8221; says Brigadier A S Sekhon, Commander of 93 Infantry Brigade.

The local people also helped him make an airstrip so that the Air Force could bring in the much needed guns. Air Commodore Baba Mehar Singh made a landing. For one full year with no help from outside Brigadier Pritam Singh held on to Poonch. It was finally on November 20 that other Army units from Jammu and Rajouri managed to link-up at Poonch and fortified it. 8220;He could not have done it without local support. And today even wewant to renew those ties,8221; adds Brigadier Sekhon. Today at Poonch the Army is fighting Pakistan again. Not only at the Line of Control LoC but also in villages and remote areas in the form of infiltrators who sneak in through the porous borders and kill people.

And yesterday, to renew the ties and to rope in the public, the Army organised a massive function to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Link-Up. And it was a people-to-Army contact all the way at Poonch to pass on the legacy of cooperation between the Army and locals to the future generations.

The Army took 40 children of extremely poor parents from the remote Loran Village in the Pir Panjal ranges from Poonch to Ajmer for a visit to Dargah Ajmer Sharif. The children, aged between 7 and 14, were shown Red Fort in Delhi, Qutab Minar, the zoo, Old Fort, Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and a number of other tourist spots on the way. Back in Poonch yesterday, each one of them swore to join the Indian Army and expressed the desire to study in a militaryschool.

8220;Parents want the Army to teach their children and preferably out of Poonch, away from the clutches of foreign mercenaries. The Army has constructed schools and is giving free medical and canteen facilities to the population of Poonch and other remote villages in the sector. The aim is to show that the Army is a friend and to defeat the Pakistani propaganda that the Army is a killer,8221; adds Brigadier Sekhon.

The Army in Poonch also gives vocational training to the women and youth sewing, motor driving, odd jobs. 8220;In fact, the local administration was so thrilled with the Army that it is providing financial assistance to carry out the developmental tasks being undertaken by the Army,8221; says Colonel Salivati, a CO posted at Poonch.

In fact, to cement the ties established by Brigadier Pritam Singh in November 1948, Brigadier Sekhon has announced several welfare measures for the people and their animals 8212; main source of livelihood in the forward areas 8212; in the Poonch sector.