Peeping through the window for long hours is not an easy job. But when you are standing inside an 8x6 ft long dimly lit bunker, with your fingers on the trigger of a light Machine Gun (lMG) along the line of Control you would probably know you cannot even afford a wink.
For last 10 days both Gulab Chand and Nasib Singh, fellow soldiers from neighbouring Himanchal Pradesh (name changed) have been standing tall and staring towards the green forests from their well fortified bunker.
The duo is tasked with maintaining a tight vigil on the movement of heavily armed infiltrators or Border Action Teams (BAT) of Pakistan Army waiting for an opportunity to avenge the surgical strikes carried out by the elite para commandos on terror launch pads inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir last month.
During the day time even snipers draped in camouflaged battle-gear remain parked behind thick foliage to target the enemy.
These snipers follow the simple mantra dushman shikar hum shikari, while keeping a watch on the movement of enemy posts from a forward location.
Armed with high precision sniper rifle these sharp shooters are an asset of a unit deployed on the line of Control. They have the capacity to shoot a target of 1200 metres away and prevent any physical assault on own post.
Speaking to this correspondent at a forward location on the line of Control, jawans manning the lMG position said, “Every time we step out of the bunker to relieve ourselves we feel out of place.” “We have been staying inside the bunker round the clock. We take turns and sleep inside the bunker. We have even kept our shaving kit and other necessary items for use inside the bunker,” they added.
Speaking to The Pioneer Gulab Chand said, “I have not even visited the unit temple in the last 10 days. I am offering prayers standing in front of a pasted image of lord Ganesha and Goddess lakshmi.”
Nasib Singh, who assisted him in manning the key gun position said, “We are provided food and refreshment by fellow soldiers inside the bunker as we cannot leave this gun position unattended even for a minute.” “We really do not know when enemy will start targeting our post with mortar shells and long range automatic guns. We have been given directions to retaliate immediately to any provocation from across the line of Control.”
The commanding officer of the unit deployed in the forward location claimed, “Our guard is up 24x7. We have been relying on all kinds of technological aids including night vision devices, image sensors, lit up fencing to assist our jawans in better management of the Anti-Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS).”
When slogans such as Bharat Mata ki jai, ajeet hain abheet hain. (We are victorious, we are invincible), yahan se ghat lagao dushman ko maar bhagao (Ambush your enemy and kill him) reverberate in high hills we feel motivated and move on for another round of duty to defend our borders, the jawans said before moving on for area domination patrol duty during the night.
He said these boys were unsung heroes of the unit but they contributed immensely in ensuring safety of their posts. All other sentry positions in the open were equally important. The only difference was they stood guard for duty hours and enjoy the liberty of taking rest in their barracks unlike those who were manning the key gun positions.
Narrating their every day experiences and how they were managing to maintain high morale, almost all the jawans claimed their families and senior officers were the biggest motivation for them. "Every time we step out of our barracks we raise patriotic slogans in chorus to tease enemy across the line of Control," they said.