AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 7 – Panorama CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 225 of 332 open market, a limited supply would be equally distributed and the complaint would be that those who did not use it, would sell it to others at a premium—black market they called it. Others were more serious - bullying and harassing young soldiers and so on. I could only take limited action. The Indian JCOs and NCOs who comprised the Camp staff had a closer ear to the ground, as they were in regular touch and spoke the same language. With their help and those of the more senior and responsible Pakistani NCOs, we ensured that matters did not get out of hand. Fortunately, our strict rules were followed and much appreciated by the POW themselves. We were always concerned about attempts to escape. The officers who were in a separate camp, attempted to dig a tunnel and managed to hide it for some time, but our officer in charge received a tip off from within and discovered it. The POW officers were then shifted to a more secure camp. One jawan, a Pathan, did manage to escape from my Camp but, was caught quite quickly. He had taken advantage of a lapse by a sentry who he had been watching for a long time. However, the escapee had to discard his POW uniform and was noticed. Finally, he stumbled into a mosque on the outskirts of the town, hoping to get help from the maulvi. But that person informed the police who took him into custody. There was no question of retaliating against him, but when he re-joined his mates, the fact that a maulvi had turned him in, had a salutary effect on the others and there were no further attempts. We were also visited from time to time by representatives of the ICRC to check on the welfare of the POW. They were all Swiss nationals and quite satisfied with our arrangements. My question always was, did they have access to the far smaller number of our soldiers in Pakistani custody? They assured us that they too were treated fairly. We learned that in this matter, reciprocity was the key. Personally, it was a major learning experience for me. I realised the importance of the values that had been drilled into me by the army: discipline—individual and collective— , respect for the vanquished and need for humane behaviour. I also learned to respect the discipline and soldierly qualities of the Pakistani soldiers who were under my charge. Living in their proximity, I also developed respect for and an abiding interest in their religion, Islam. The final say though must go to the senior Pakistani JCO in my Camp. As I left on posting, he thanked me for treating them well. But, I said, you will not be able to say so when you return. His answer was instructive. I was right, he said, but when we return to our loved ones, do you think we will not tell the truth? I had to agree and still remember his words till today. So, my last lesson stemmed from the old Subedar Major, do the right thing and truth will always prevail. Acknowledgement This article was first published in Force Magazine.