** CAUTION: Long Post ***
My series on “Saluting our Heroes” will remain incomplete without the inspiring and extraordinary acts of the “Param Veer”s of Kargil.  As I wrote on the occassion of Kargil Vijay Diwas, the conflict in Kargil involved the largest peace-time mobilisation of Indian troops of which 20,000 were believed to have been involved in actual operations in the harsh and inhospitable terrain.  More than 500 of our bravest lost their lives on this punishing battlefield, defending every inch of our territory. Two amongst these were Captain Manoj …

Many of you must have read/heard about these two fairly “popular” myths about J&K:

“Kashmir is the ‘most heavily militarized zone’ in the world” or its variations: “There is an Indian soldier for every ten civilians in Kashmir”; “The Indian troops-to-Kashmiri people ratio in the occupied Kashmir is the largest ever soldiers-to-civilians ratio in the world”
The last two decades of violence in the state have left 10,000 missing and 100,000 dead

Pragmatic_desi has done a fine job of exploding the first one…Excerpts from Mythbusting: Soldiers-to-civilians ratio in Kashmir (emphasis added):
These myths …

..or how Justice delayed is justice denied.
Some of you must have read the recent news-report of a bill proposed to be tabled in Parliament to ensure “time-bound justice for citizens“. The bill has some interesting provisions, including
…measures like discharge of an accused in a traffic offence if trial is pending for more than two years due to non-service of summons. “In case of trial of offences compoundable under the Indian Penal Code, or any other law in force, pending for more than two years, the court shall discharge the accused …

Dear Friends, I’m delighted to announce that my compilation of posts featuring Param Vir Chakra awardees is finally complete.  The series started with a simple idea on a lazy summer afternoon of 2009 – and soon became a labour of love…I pored over numerous articles and web pages to do my research while writing this series…but not for a moment did I feel that the effort was in vain. Writing about these brave men – and their exploits – was perhaps the most inspiring and motivating thing I have done …