Ikkis, meaning twenty-one in Hindi, is the recently released Indian war movie centred around the valour of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, who, during the 1971 India-Pakistan War, when he was just 21 years old, became India’s youngest recipient of the Param Vir Chakra (posthumous), the nation’s highest gallantry award in war.

Arun Khetarpal, Foxtrot Squadron, 38th Course, National Defence Academy (NDA), evokes memories of exciting swimming competitions, of paddling neck to neck in sprints till I beat him only in the last few yards, and of blocking each other in water polo. Being my senior by a year, when we parted company in June 1969, little did I know then that we would never meet in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army, which I joined later.

Belonging to the Khetarpal family hailing from Sargodha, in Pakistan’s Punjab, and one with a long tradition of service in the Army from his father’s great-grandfather’s time, Arun was born on 14th October 1950, at Poona (Pune), to Maheshwari and Madan Lal Ketarpal, then a Lieutenant Colonel in the Corps of Engineers. Maheshwari Khetrapal came from the distinguished Tandon family of Hardoi, in Uttar Pradesh. Arun had his early schooling in local schools of whichever station his parents happened to be in and after four years at Lawrence School, Sanawar, followed by three years at NDA and a year in the Indian Military Academy (IMA), DehraDun, was commissioned on 13 Jun 1971 into The Poona Horse (17th Horse).

His Intrepid Valour

The clouds of the third and most significant India-Pakistan War were gathering when Arun joined the regiment. His colleague, Brijendra Singh, now a retired Brigadier, has an interesting anecdote to tell about Arun. In October 1971, both were into their third day of the Young Officers’ Course at Armoured Corps Centre and School, Ahmadnagar (Maharashtra), when it was called off  because of the impending war. At New Delhi Railway Station, where they had to change trains, Arun wanted to make a quick trip home. The reason he stated on being asked by Brijendra was that he wanted to collect his ‘Blue Patrols’ (ceremonial mess dress) and golf set. “ Are you bonkers? We are going for war”, exclaimed Brijendra. “Certainly not. We will be winning this war and both these items will be required in Lahore!”, replied Arun tongue in cheek.

On 3rd December 1971, when it began, Poona Horse was poised on its own side of the Basantar river, raring to go. On 16 December, when ‘B’ Squadron Commander of  Poona Horse asked for reinforcements on radio as the Pakistani tanks in superior strength had counter attacked his in the area of Jarpal, Second Lieutenant Arun Khetrarpal, commanding a tank troop     (a sub-sub unit of 3 tanks) in ‘A’ squadron, voluntarily moved his troop to assist ‘B’ squadron. Enroute, while crossing the Basantar River, his tanks came under heavy fire from enemy strong points which were still holding out. Time was at premium and as a critical situation was developing in the ‘B’ squadron sector, Arun threw caution to the winds and started attacking the enemy infantry with small arms and after clearing this opposition, so carried away by the wild enthusiasm of battle and the impetus of his own headlong dash, he started chasing the withdrawing enemy tanks and even managed to shoot and destroy one of them. Soon thereafter the enemy re-formed with the squadron of armour for a second attack and this time they selected the sector held by Arun and two other tanks as the point for their main effort. A fierce tank fight ensued and out of ten enemy tanks hit and destroyed, Arun personally accounted for four. When enemy fire severely wounded him, he was asked to abandon his tank but realizing that the enemy though badly decimated was continuing to advance in his area and if he abandoned his tank the enemy would break through, he chose to gallantly fight on and destroy another enemy tank. At this stage his tank received a second hit which caused his death, but his intrepid valour saved the day, as the enemy was denied a desperately sought break-through.

Arun Khetarpal became the youngest recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, India’s highest award for gallantry in war. His mother was handed over the medal and scroll by then President VV Giri on Republic Day, 1972.

'A Very Brave Boy'

The story of Arun’s role in the Battle of Basantar did not end on that day, or even after the cease fire of this two weeks war, resulting in the demise of East Pakistan and the announcement of the newly liberated Bangladesh. Major Khwaja  Mohammad Nasir, then a Squadron Commander of 13th Lancers, the regiment pitched against Poona Horse, who came bandaged the next day to collect the dead bodies of his fallen comrades, wanted to know more about “ the officer, who stood like an insurmountable rock” and whose troop of three British World War II vintage Centurion tanks   was responsible for decimation of his entire squadron of  fourteen American Patton tanks. His bandages were owing to injuries sustained by him in the final engagement of his and Arun’s tank. 13th Lancers is the same regiment which exchanged its Sikh squadron with the Muslim squadron of Poona Horse, during the partition in 1947.

Nasir’s tribute to Arun did not end in the battlefield in December 1971. Brigadier Madan Khetarpal (Retd), living a quiet life with his wife Maheshwari, in New Delhi, had for long nursed a desire to visit his hometown Sargodha in Pakistan. Speaking to me when I met him, he mentioned that in 2001, when he sounded  his old friend, Lieutenant General Kirpal Singh Randhawa (Retd), of 7th Cavalry, who had visited Pakistan a number of times in the past couple of decades, the latter merely asked him for his passport, which he brought back a few days later with the Pakistan visa signed on it. Not only that; he had also arranged with his Aitchison’s College (Lahore) mate, the same Khwaja Mohammad Nasir, a brigadier and manager of Pakistan’s cricket team, to host Brigadier Khetarpal. During that visit, Nasir hesitatingly admitted that he was the one at whose hands Arun died. “…he (Arun) was singularly responsible for our failure. He was a very brave boy…”, said Nasir to the senior Khetarpal, who even in his sorrow, stoically remained an officer and a gentleman.

It was indeed a pleasant surprise that then President A P J Abdul Kalam addressed the Arun Khetarpal Memorial Lecture on 18th November 2005, for which 25 students of Lawrence School, Sanawar and other schools from Delhi were also invited.

(The author, a strategic affairs analyst, is a former spokesperson, Defence Ministry and Indian Army. He can be contacted at wordsword02@gmail.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/anil-bhat-70b94766/ and @ColAnilBhat8252, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPJKaZOcAt9K8fcDkb_onng)