Batalik sector, Kargil: As the country prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Kargil war we look back at some of the little known battles that took place in 1999 contributing to that final victory.
For Col Ajit Singh, the terrain Batalik is familiar but the setting now completely different. Ten years ago as a major he was thrown into the thick of the battle here and memories come rushing back.
"The enemy was sitting up there, they were firing all kinds of weapons, artillery, mortar, small arms.
It took us more than a month to evict them," said Col Ajith Singh, 8 Mountain Division.
The first intrusions of the war were in fact detected in the Batalik sector but in 1999 this sector was inaccessible for the media since there were no roads that time.
Back in 1999, the Indian Army did not have any permanent deployment in this sector but once the intrusions were detected troops fought hard under hostile enemy fire to recapture the peaks.
A decade down the line, the Batalik-Kargil sector has witnessed quality improvement in infrastructure and troop deployment and roads have come up.
"Now we virtually occupy all heights, there are no gaps. Kargil is as safe as any part of the country, there's no question of a repeat of Kargil 1999 happening now," said Maj Gen Suresh Khajuria, GOC, 8 Mountain Division.
Over 400 men lost their lives reclaiming Kargil and Batalik peaks, the Army says it was a costly but valuable lesson learnt.