Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Ladakh: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has made a pathbreaking breakthrough in opening the Nimu- Padam-Darcha (NPD) Road. This 298 Km road connects Manali to Leh through Darcha and Nimmu on the Kargil –Leh Highway.
In this livestream replug our travel along the NPD Road and highlight its significance. We document India's infrastructural push in Eastern Ladakh to deal with Beijing's aggression in the border dispute along the China-occupied Tibet border or the LAC.
Alternate axes are significant in also dealing with the Pakistani second front in Siachen and from POJK. The route provides critical connectivity for defence logistics to and for civilian development around the Northern China-occupied Tibet border or Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Line of Control (LoC), and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in Siachen with Pakistan.
It is shielded from both the India-China border and the frontier with Pakistan, unlike the other two axes. A StratNews Global team of Amitabh P. Revi, Rohit Pandita, and Karan Marwaha travels along the road, during the fourth winter of India's forward deployment post Xi Jinping's aggression that led to the deadly Galwan clashes in 2020.
In 'The Himalayan Frontier, Part III, we travel from Manali, through the Atal Tunnel under the Rohtang Pass and drive on the Nimu-Padam- Darcha (NPD) road to Leh. In the next episode, we complete our journey to Leh on the strategic third, alternate axis to Leh. In the third episode, we speak exclusively to Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan, the Director General, BRO at Chiling on the frozen Zanskar River. This is the exact point that the NPD connectivity has been made.
Editor's Note: This series first aired in January and February 2024.
India should claim part of Tibet as part of its territory. Centuries ago it was.