2LT ARUN KHETARPAL, PVC

LT ARUN KHETARPAL , PVC  17 HORSE

Battle Of Basantar, Shakargarh Sector 
16 December 1971

Seated inside the cramped Famagusta, his Centurion battle tank named after a port in Cyprus, 2nd Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal is watching with narrowed eyes the enemy tanks before him. Most of them are wrecked and burning, the flames filling the sky with billowing grey smoke. He is trying to judge the trajectory of the shot his gunner has just fired. He will know if it has hit home because the moment a tank is hit the Pakistanis raise their gun and run out. Their religion forbids them a death by burning.

MAJ SOM SHARMA 1948

THE INDO-PAK WAR OF 1947 -48
"THE BRAVE PARAM VEER CHAKRA STORIES"  

 E BOOK by   RACHNA BISHT RAWAT

 Soon after Independence and the painful partition of British India, India and Pakistan fought their first war over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. In June 1947, when Partition was announced, the 600 princely states that existed then were given the choice to accede to either India or Pakistan, or remain independent. Most rulers agreed to merge with the country closer to them, while a few chose to remain independent. Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir decided