Monday 5 October 2015

4 Armymen Killed On LoC Today! We Have No Idea What We Are Losing!

The news comes as a great loss to the country! Three armymen were reported to be killed on the LoC (Line of Control) in Jammu and Kashmir when a fierce gun battle broke down with terrorists in the state. Another armyman is reported to have been killed in a separate encounter in the same state. Surprisingly, not many must have known this news by now since our media doesn’t list it as an important issue, enough to be reported as a BREAKING NEWS!


While going through the headlines on the website of NDTV, I found this headline that was, of course, not a part of the top news reported in bold characters. Every day, every month and every year, we lose countless such soldiers to terrorists and gunbattles which the media and the government don’t consider as a great loss. May be because people don’t know what they are losing! While the suicides of farmers have become a common issue in various states of the country, the loss of soldiers is taking India to a deadly situation!

It was way back in 1965 when Lal Bahadur Shastriji gave the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’. The slogan, since then, gained huge popularity and also made its way to the textbooks of school children. But has our government ever thought about its worth? Or has our media ever recognized the efforts that these bravehearts put in every day so that we lead a happy and safe life? If they would have recognized the worth of these brave and commendable souls, their efforts would have been appreciated and their plight would have been thrown light upon. However, it is really sad to see such a news of national relevance being reported secondary to other news and that nothing has been done to enhance their situation by the government over the years.


Most of us do not have our friends or relatives working in the army or navy so we remain unaware about the conditions that these brave souls live in every day! However, it is a matter of fact that soldiers have been suffering countless hardships while defending the country since years and nothing significant has been done by the country to uplift their condition and make their life better. Many movies have been made explaining the plight of soldiers, but to vain.

Life on the LoC is not an easy task at all! When the room gets too cool, it is our obvious reaction to turn off the air conditioner, isn’t it? Can you imagine how our soldiers live in extremely frozen conditions, in temperatures that sometimes go up to minus 60 degrees? Yes, it is not at all an easy task! Mountaineers or those who have trekked to a snow clad mountain at least once in their life will agree with me on this. They do not get leaves to go back to their towns and visit their families; some of them have to leave their pregnant wives at home and have not even seen their new born even once. An altitude that offers numerous hardships other than freezing temperatures does not even make fresh food available for them. This is the condition that our soldiers live in today!

I had read in numerous articles that the Siachen is one of the most treacherous borders of India that has the worst and most difficult climatic conditions for human existence. However, we still have our army deployed here at a height that can degrade a human’s health to unimaginable extent. Also, while terrorism and attacks by neighbouring country armies is always a threat to their life apart from the difficult conditions, there is always a fear of glaciers coming down to the soldier camps that may cause our bravehearts to sacrifice their lives!


Yet, no light has ever been put on the hardships they face on the borders or no efforts have been made to improve their lifestyle whatsoever! In fact, the media puts the news of our martyred soldiers somewhere in the clutter of lesser relevant news. Isn’t this a shame for our country?  

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