В Индии обсуждают загадочное фото «призрачного батальона» с надписью на стене, якобы оставленной спецназом после операции на границе

An obscure photograph is circulating among the Indian defence enthusiasts that has become related to one of the most gruesome and disputed incidents attributed to India’s Special Forces. Shared online often as an “Ghost Paltan” picture (a popular name attributed to a group of commandos that features an image and a text written in it), the wall displays an barely visible Hindi phrase “Hum shikari hain, dushman hai shikar; hinsa ke hum malik hain, tum bas kirayedaar” meaning “We are the hunters; enemy, the prey; we command violence, your entry merely on rental”. On social media this picture is often shared in relation to a post-border raid conducted by India’s Special Forces, retaliating against the killing of the Pakistani forces. According to a version of the narrative commonly spread by enthusiasts and defence websites, this operation was carried out in order to punish the killing and maltreatment of Captain Saurabh Kalia and 5 troopers of the 4 Jat regime during the Kargil conflict. The Six personnel captured along with Captain Saurabh Kalia in the Kaksar sector on May 15, 1999 were held hostage by the Pakistani soldiers for a duration of 22 days before their mutilated corpses returned in India. As claimed by accounts from Indian side, Captain Saurabh Kalia and soldiers were subjected to inhumane torture. Subsequently called a barbaric act by the Indian government, the incident was taken up with the United Nations. The exact details about the photograph however, aren’t as clearly ascertained as their popularity. According to a legend linked to the photograph, the photograph depicts a post-border operation carried out by a unit of Indian Special Forces who ambushed a position manned by Pakistan Army, killings 22 troopers. It’s alleged that “Hum shikari hain…” were written using the blood of those killed with some versions asserting the existence of a particular officer from Pakistani administration allegedly responsible for their torture captured and eliminated along with the troop; and that this operative had been under radar for ages through intelligence. There however doesn’t exist any solid public evidence that may independently verify these facts of a post-border strike by an unknown SAS contingent at a Pakistani Army post on a wall displaying the given Hindi poem in blood of martyred Pakistani troop. A thread in Reddit, for instance stated almost the same story but also contained confusion about the Indian outfit and operations’ real aim. These specific facts of “Ghost Paltan”, about the 22-member Pakistani Army troop’s mortality and identification of the key person allegedly responsible for Capt. That detail of the operation becomes important because Indian Special Forces operate covertly and facts regarding their missions often undergo an imaginative evolution over the passage of time. Separately, there exists uncertainty about Operation Apache being another such operation. It still needs verification as the operations details were different depending upon whichever online discussions on Reddit. Captain Kalia’s capture and death along the LoC after a fighting engagement turned into a significant landmark case about what should or should not be done, where Captain Saurabh Kalia and 5 soldiers fought valiantly but surrendered due to lack of ammunition. The deceased are remembered in India as brave soldiers and there has been a protracted attempt by their families and nation at large to recognize their demise as a war crime. Thus, the ghost Paltan is a controversial narrative that stands between a recorded military fact and the legend of Special Forces, their messages serving as symbol for the retaliatory instincts assumed by these units however, certain spectacular elements around photograph might have no substantial proofs to validate it. Edited by Raunak Kunde