Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal (English: Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, born: 14 October, 1950 – martyrdom: 16 December, 1971) was an Indian awarded with Paramvir Chakra. He received this honor posthumously in 1971. The India-Pakistan war that took place in 1971, in which Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan and was born as an independent country, holds an important place not only in the history of India but in the history of the entire world. This war continued till December 17, 1971. Pakistan lost its face in this. He not only lost, but after breaking away from it, his state East Pakistan was born as an independent nation, which was called Bangladesh. Many heroes sacrificed their lives in this war. Second Lieutenant Arun Khetrapal is one of them.
life introduction
Arun Khetrapal was born on 14 October 1950 in Pune. His early schooling took place in schools in different places where his father was sent, but Arun spent the last five important years of his schooling at Lawrence School, Sanawar. As much as he was adept in studies, he was equally adept in the sports field. He was a better cricket player in the school. NDA. During (NDA) he was selected as ‘Squadron Cadet’. He became a senior under officer in the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. On June 13, 1971, he formally joined the Poona Horse as a Second Lieutenant. He never did any work reluctantly. Never refused to do any work. It was considered his praise that he was willing to do any work happily and maintained his working environment.
In the family in which Arun Khetrapal was born, the values of military life were prevalent for many generations. Arun’s great grandfather served in the Sikh Army and fought against the British Army in 1848. Their march was held in Chillianwala. Arun’s grandfather was a soldier of the First World War and participated in it from 1917 to 1919. Arun Khetrapal’s father Madan Lal Khetrapal was not only a Brigadier, he also received Ati Vishisht Sena Medal (AVSM). Obviously, Second Lieutenant Arun Khetrapal, who carried forward this tradition, would have established his stature in this direction greater than his ancestors.
For Arun Khetrapal, bravery and discipline were synonyms of the same word. When he was a Senior Under Officer in the Indian Military Academy, a very special occasion came where this quality of his became clearly visible. He got two orders at once. An order asked him to attend a library meeting at 11 o’clock. On the same day another order was sending them to the firing range at exactly the same time, i.e. at 11 o’clock. Obviously one cannot be in two places at the same time. But it was not in his nature to question these contradictory orders. He agreed to go to the firing range and completed his duty by reaching there on time. As punishment for not attending the library meeting, he was demoted one rank below Senior Under Officer. He accepted this punishment without any argument. No noise was made on this. Later he was again made a Senior Under Officer, but when he was punished, he did not even complain, leave alone complaining.
appointment in indian army
After Arun Khetarpal was appointed in the army, a war between India and Pakistan was taking place. East Pakistan was becoming an innocent victim of the barbarity of West Pakistan and the number of Bengali speaking refugees wandering in the Indian border was increasing. Finally, on 3 December 1971, the situation had reached such a stage that war could not be avoided. On December 16, 1971, Arun Khetrapal was on duty commanding a squadron when another squadron needed help to face a strong enemy force and sent a message. In honor of this message, Arun Khegpal voluntarily set out with his contingent to help the squadron deployed at Jarpal in Shakargarh sector, which had sent the message.
In this march of Arun Khetarpal, Arun himself was on his tank, who was destroying his tanks regardless of the enemy fire. During this period, his tank came under target and caught fire. Then their commander ordered them to leave the tank and separate. But Arun was aware of how important it was for him to remain steadfast in stopping the enemy. Therefore, he did not agree to move away to save his life and he destroyed an enemy tank a hundred meters away from him. Then his tank also suffered another blow and became useless. This resulted in Arun’s martyrdom, but it filled his troop with so much enthusiasm that it attacked the enemy with even more bravery.
letter to father
On 10 December 1971, Arun’s father received a letter from Arun, which he had written from ten miles inside the Pakistan border. That letter also tells its own story.
‘Dear Daddy, we are having so much fun. The bravery of our regiment stands above the world. We will end this fight soon.
In fact, Arun Khetarpal had already won this war which ended on 17th December 1971, i.e. on 16th December 1971 and had happily set out on the great journey. Arun Khetarpal’s bravery and enthusiasm were talked about across the country and are still talked about today, but his real bravery comes out in the discussion about him by the enemy.
after martyrdom
Shortly after his son’s martyrdom, Arun’s father Brigadier Madan Lal Khetrapal received a message from Pakistan that someone wanted to meet him. The arrival of such a message was made possible by the ‘Twin Track Diplomatic Effort’ unit that established the peace process between India and Pakistan. Since neither the identity of the sender of the message was revealed in it, nor was the reason for the desire to meet clear, Khetrapal never paid attention to it. Nobody paid attention to the talk. Arun Khetrapal’s ancestral family was from Sargodha, which migrated to Pakistan after partition. After being relieved from the post, at the age of about eighty, Arun’s father expressed his desire to go to his native land Sargodha and spend some time. Respecting his wish, arrangements were made and his visa etc. were issued. A responsible military officer was deployed in Pakistan to look after his living arrangements in Sargodha. The amount of emotionless hospitality and deep intimacy that officer gave him deeply impressed him. That person gave him an intimate place in his family. This is from the year 2001. When thirty years had passed since Arun’s martyrdom and he had been awarded the Paramvir Chakra. He was the youngest soldier to receive the Param Vir Chakra and he received this honor after only six months of service.
In Pakistan, the officer who was entrusted with the hospitality of Brigadier Madanlal Khetrapal was Brigadier K. of 13 Lancers of the Pak Army. Was M. Nassar. Their intimate hospitality had astonished Khetrapal to a great extent. When the day of Khetrapal’s return came, the Nassar family members also gave gifts to Khetrapal’s family and on the same night, Brigadier Nassar told Brigadier Khetrapal that he wanted to talk to him about something intimate. Then what he said to Khetrapal was almost shocking. Brigadier Nassar told Khetrapal that on December 16, 1971, he was face to face with Arun Khetrapal in the Battle of Jarpal in Shakargarh Sector and his attack had become fatal for his son. Khetrapal was stunned. Nassar continued. Nassar’s words contained many emotions simultaneously. He was a fighter of Pakistan in the war at that time, hence Arun was a soldier of their enemy army, and it was a matter of pride for him to kill him, but he was also saddened by the fact that such a brave, so courageous, so committed young fighter was his Killed by hands. He was not able to forget this.
Brigadier Nassar said that only after the battle of ‘Bade Pind’, he was continuously trying to contact Arun’s father. The big mass meant the same battle in which Arun was killed. Nassar was sad that he could not do this, but it was the result of his will power that he met Brigadier Khetrapal on this pretext. After this conversation between Nassar and Khetarpal, there was only silence between the two. But Khetarpal definitely had the satisfaction and pride in his mind that his son was martyred while fighting so bravely that even the enemy could not forget him and the pain of killing his son remained in the enemy’s mind, even though This was his duty.