'Making of a General': An insightful account of army life

The book throws light on major operations of the Army through the 1980s and 1990s

book-cover

From the start of the Kargil war, the Pakistan Army was in a denial mode—that the insurrection was the work of Kashmiri insurgents ('mujahideen' in their lingo), and that the Pakistan Army had nothing to do with it.

The charade almost convinced the world till the Indian Army picked up the military I-cards and Army pay books from the pockets of a few 'mujahideen'. The evidence proved to the world that several of the 'mujahideen' were Pakistani soldiers in disguise.

Ironically however, the operation that led to the first such capture of military papers from the enemy dead is still not recognised as part of the Kargil saga “on the grounds that the battle was beyond a line marked by the staff as the area of Kargil war.” (That's military bureaucracy for you.)

Consequently, the unit, its officers and men who took part in the operation remain unrecognised. An officer for whom the unit commander, the author of this book, recommended Param Vir Chakra was given only a Sena Medal.

All the same, Col. (later Lt.-Gen) Konsum Himalay Singh who commanded the unit, the 27 Rajput, has no rancour. “I remain ever proud of my officers and troops and the fact that we played our part well in the war,” he writes in this account, a diary of his military life.

Konsum Himalay Singh had got his first diary in 1967. The first thing he scribbled in it, on January 26, was: “One day I shall become a brigadier in the Army.” Brigadier was the highest rank to which anyone from the northeast had reached in the Indian Army those days. Himalay, who was named so by a great aunt who believed that naming children after mountains would bring good luck, grew up, joined the army and became a brigadier, and then climbed two more steps to become the first lieutenant-general from the northeast.

This book, however, is not just about how this Manipuri officer reached those professional heights, but also an insightful account of various aspects of army life and major operations of the Indian Army through the 1980s and 1990s—the working of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the northeast, the Mizo rebellion and accord, the operations against the Naga Underground in his own home state of Manipur and elsewhere, the insurgency in the Kashmir valley, the frozen war in Siachen, and of course the hot war on the Kargil heights where the author commanded the 27 Rajputs in one of the least reported operations which was the capture of Point 5770. Incidentally, the capture of Point 5770, was “a daylight attack, a silent assault where not a single artillery ... shot was fired just before or during the attack. This was one attack in the entire Kargil war where no artillery guns were used and where no casualties to own troops occurred...”

A month after the operation, the author was asked if he had the body of a Capt. Taimur Malik of the Pakistan Army's 3 Northern Light Infantry. When he said yes, he was asked to exhume it and hand it over to Pakistan Army. Himalay Singh refused, insisting that he would do it only if Pakistan would accept the bodies of all the four soldiers who had been been killed by his unit. Pakistan had to own them up.

The book is full of such first-hand stories of military life. The author has taken care not to test the patience of the reader with too many details of his personal life, except those which would give an insight to the reader about life in the military and life in the northeast.

Making of a General: A Himalayan Echo

By Lt.-Gen. Konsam Himalay Singh

Published by: Konark Publishers, Delhi, 2020

230 Pages; Rs 800

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