FORWARD DEFENCE

THE WEEK travels to Qila Darhal in Nowshera, where a small band of villagers repulsed Pakistani invaders for nearly two months, soon after Independence

- PRADIP R. SAGAR

Sardar Basant Singh was barely 13 when Pakistanis attacked border villages of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in September 1947. The invaders, who were backed by the Pakistan army, captured several villages and towns. But Qila Darhal, Basant’s village near Nowshera town in the Jammu region, held out. Basant still remembers the heroic resistance put up by about 50 villagers, who kept the invaders at bay for 54 days—from September 4 to October 28—until Jammu and Kashmir acceded to the Indian Union and the Indian Army joined the battle. The feat has not many parallels in Indian history.

“We were just about 50, against hundreds of invaders. We fought with country-made rifles and gave them a tough fight which they never anticipated,” Basant told THE WEEK, which is the first national publication to meet the heroes of Qila Darhal. The villagers erected a memorial in 1952 to honour the brave hearts; Shaheedgarh is perhaps the only war memorial in India dedicated to civilians. The 12ft-high marble and granite memorial on a 4ft-high platform carries the names of the martyrs.

Every year, on October 28, the commander of the Nowshera Brigade of the Indian Army pays homage at Shaheedgarh, and a fair is organised to commemorate their valour. The villagers say the event has helped cement the bond between the civilians and the Army.

Nowshera is a strategically important town on the old Mughal Road, which connects Srinagar to Lahore. In 1586, emperor Akbar conquered Kashmir valley, and his son Jahangir constructed forts and wells along the route for travellers and the royal caravan. Noor Mahal at Nowshera still stands, where Jahangir’s beloved consort, Noor Jahan, used to stay during her trips to Kashmir. Qila Darhal, inhabited mostly by Sikhs, lies 20km northwest of Nowshera.