By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The saga of valour and sacrifice of the men who guard the borders are many. One such chivalrous act, which is still the talk of Dalu, a village situated along Indo-Bangla border in West Garo Hills, is that of retired Border Security Force (BSF) personnel B S Tyagi and his men who stood firm against the enemy.
Tyagi exhibited exemplary courage while taking on the Pakistan Army during the 1971 Indo-Pak War at Dalu Border Outpost.
The company commander of Dalu BOP, Tyagi was manning Kilapara BOP with only 13 BSF men at his disposal when information came in that the then East Pakistan Army was fast approaching.
While recalling his experience of the attack, Tyagi said that after heavy attack at Kilapara, the phones at the outpost were totally
destroyed and four BSF personnel were asked to send the information to Dalu command.
“I was coordinating Dalu from Kilapara when we received an information that Pakistani army have reached Dalu, just few kilometres from Kilapara outpost,” Tyagi said.
Soon after the information, the company commander, without caring for his life, took out the vehicle and proceeded towards Dalu. However, he came under heavy firing from the Pakistan army and had to abandon the vehicle.
Later, he managed a cycle from one of the refugees and undeterred by the heavy firing from the enemy soldiers, Tyagi reached Dalu to take stock of the situation.
Later, on reaching Kilapara, he found that nine of his men had sacrificed their lives protecting the country.
“Our soldiers fought till their last breath and since there was shortage of ammunition, they even used rifle butt against Pakistani army,” he told reporters.
Taking pride in the brave act of Tyagi, the Director General of BSF as well as BGFB felicitated him during the unveiling of War memorial at Dalu on Saturday.