Major–General Onkar Singh Kalkat,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

, (3 December 2004) was an Indian military officer in the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

and later the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

. Soon after the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947, he stumbled upon the plans for an

Operation Gulmarg Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Operation (game), ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * Operations (magazine ...

, which were apparently Pakistani plans to attack the princely state of Kashmir, two months before they were to commence. Even though he conveyed the information to the Indian authorities, he was not taken seriously. Senior Indian officials including the-then Defence Minister of India Sardar Baldev Singh, Brigadier Kalwant Singh and the DGMO, Col. P. N. Thapar, were complicit in the delay in taking action on Kalkat's information. Kalkat's account also shows the complicity of some British officials in the 1947 invasion of Kashmir.

Early life

Onkar Singh Kalkat was a postgraduate in economics from the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

Military career

He joined the

at the age of 24 and studied at the

Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , presi ...

. He saw operations in both the

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

between 1938–45, and in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 and then in 1971 when he was commander of the 14 Infantry, leading the recapture of 32 posts from the Pakistanis. He then worked first as an instructor and then as a Commandant at College of Combat, Mhow. He opted for voluntary retirement at the age of 54 in 1972. After retirement, for two years, he was the Chief Military Intelligence Officer in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, working under

Research and Analysis Wing The Research and Analysis Wing (abbreviated R&AW; hi, ) is the foreign intelligence agency of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, an ...

(R&AW).

Pakistan's Invasion Plans

At the time of

, Major Kalkat was the Brigade Major of the Bannu Frontier Brigade Group, in present-day Pakistan, under the Command of Brigadier C. P. Murry, a British officer; who were waiting to go back to India and England, respectively. It was then in August 1947 that Kalkat stumbled upon information related to Pakistan's invasion of Kashmir,

, that was to commence in October. Kalkat was authorised to open letters for Brigadier CP Murry in his absence. On 20 August 1947, Kalkat opened one such letter from General Frank Walter Messervy, and found attached the plans for Operation Gulmarg. Kalkat informed Brigadier Murry of the letter, who in turn told him to tell no one about the information in Pakistan as it could get him killed. However, soon afterwards, Kalkat was put under house arrest by the Pakistani Army suspecting that something was up. Kalkat escaped his captors, left Mir Ali Mirali, reached

Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-area ...

in Indian Punjab and, on 18 October 1947, headed to Delhi in a goods train. The following day he met senior military officials including Brigadier Kalwant Singh, Col. P. N. Thapar (then the Director of Military Operations) and Sardar Baldev Singh, the Defence Minister, and told them about what he knew of the impending attack. But no one took Major Kalkat seriously enough to take action and the "British-staffed intelligence directorate paid no heed to it". At that time, the "impending invasion" was being reported from multiple locations. Before leaving Pakistan, Major Kalkat, with the help of his Muslim friends and the District Commissioner of

Mianwali district The Mianwali District ( ur, ), is a district located in Sargodha Division of Punjab province, Pakistan. It was separated from NWFP in 1901, and has a border with the Chakwal, Attock,Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bhakkar, an ...

, had got his family out of Pakistan and sent to India. While Major Kalkat was searching for his family in East Punjab, the Operation Gulmarg began. It was then that the Indian authorities realised their mistake. Major Kalkat was traced only on 24 October. He was taken to

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Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

who shouted at everyone for not taking an officer in a responsible position seriously: In 1983, Kalkat wrote a book called ''Far-flung Frontiers'' in which he described his experiences. The foreword of the book was written by Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, then a Brigadier, who agreed with Kalkat's narrative.

Publications

First published in 1983, ''The Far-Flung Frontiers'' by Major-General O.S. Kalkat is said to be one of the most "significant" military autobiographies written in India "in terms of military value and the scope it covers".

Notes

References

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