Economic Times Delhi; Date:2009 May 31; Section:As You Like It;

A Hero's Motto
by Raghu Krishnan

A few Sundays ago, the TV channels carried reports on ragging in Lawrence School, Sanawar. The school is more famous for educating some of India's most gallant soldiers. The school has a war memorial honouring former students who died for the country, including the youngest winner of the Param Vir Chakra. Lt Arun Khetarpal of the 17 Poona Horse was just 21 when he took out five Pakistani tanks on December 16, 1971, in the Battle of Basantar on the last day of the Bangladesh War.

Khetarpal was fighting in the Shakargarh sector on the western front where the objective was to pre-empt any Pakistani advance before the cease-fire. He was wounded and his tank was on fire. However, he continued fighting and his tank was hit again. The next morning, when the cease-fire was in operation, the Pakistani CO dropped by to meet his Indian counterpart, stopped near the smouldering remains of Khetarpal's tank and said, "Who was that? Whoever he was, he fought most bravely. We've never met anyone like him."

"Never Give In" is the Lawrence School motto. The schoolboy Khetarpal would have repeated it each time he did the 5-km Hodson's Run round the school, situated in Himachal at an altitude of 5,600 ft. On December 16, 1971, he may have remembered the school motto when he was wounded but refused to get out of the burning tank despite being ordered to by his superior officer. He may have remembered the school motto when he continued firing on the enemy tanks until the last one left fired and his tank was hit again.

For years after that, his father (who retired as a brigadier) would keep getting letters from a Pakistani officer he did not know. When relations between the two countries returned to normal, Brigadier Khetarpal went to Pakistan to visit Sargodha where the family had lived before Partition. The Pakistani officer who had been writing to him put him up in his house at Lahore. On the night before Brigadier Khetarpal returned to India, the Pakistani officer told him, "Sir, there is something I wanted to tell you for many years. I regret to tell you that your son died at my hands. I had all along thought I would ask for your forgiveness. But, in telling the story, I realise there is nothing to forgive. Instead, I salute your son for what he did at such a young age. And I salute you too because I know how he grew into such a young man. In the end, it is character and values that matter."

Honour is an old-fashioned concept. However, it lives on in the memorial at Sanawar. Nothing can dim the glory of the past or belie the hope of the future. Future generations of schoolchildren doing the Hodson's Run at Sanawar will remember the prizes Arun Khetarpal picked up for sports and studies. Some of them might even follow in his footsteps and join the National Defence Academy at Khadakvasla and march on the Khetarpal Parade Ground. Those who go on to the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun will sit in the Khetarpal Auditorium. The Battle of Basantar was won on the playing fields of Sanawar.