The women who matter on the International Borders (IB)

By: M S Nazki

They are the specialists and thus have a special classification, universally called as women in combat!

-‘I was the Commander in Chief with men and women in combat. And the idea of trying to agonize in public or show weakness would have demoralized them. George W. Bush, The American President)’

-‘I have learned that a woman can be a fighter, a freedom fighter, a political activist, and that she can fall in love, and be loved, she can be married, have children, be a mother… Revolution must mean life also; every aspect of life and that includes combat and why not? At times the tigress is more powerful than a tiger! Down the civilizations it has proved to be the case and it will continue doing so because the women create civilizations not men because the latter ould be a non existent factor if they were not born’!

-‘Yes I am talking about the women who have got enrolled in BSF and move with rifles slung around their soldiers and the foot moving in cohesion and the majestic sway of a tigress on the prowl in hunt for the prey’

-‘Most of us don’t think beyond a certain point and that’s why most of us remain ordinary all our lives. However, some people think differently and become pioneers in what they do. She was once a girl and never in her wildest of imaginations ever thought that she would be a lady in Jackboots once she grows up in life. She was destined to be in Jackboots and uniform! She did it. The name Tanushree Prateek who was the first woman in combat as far the massive and powerful institution of BSF goes. She did what was once thought unthinkable! The stage set was to see many Young women join the elite force that guards the frontiers of the Nation, the defenders in the form of the Border Security Force!’

-‘Tanu Shree Pareek broke BSF’s 51-year-old barrier of not having a single woman in combat until 2016.Now there are many and are deployed on IB which starts from Akhnoor, keeps winding its way to RS Pura, Samba, Hiranagar, Kathua, Pathankot and right along the edges of Punjab plains! Such a massive line of Division which Cyril Radcliffe drew needs some serious guarding as across sit the Pak Rangers in a direct eyeball to eyeball contact!’

-‘It is the basic aggressive instinct that matters since without that nothing is possible because this conglomeration of women though now the cast is huge on the massive canvas painted with three colors, the blue, the Khaki and the red with beautiful strokes of brass and silver as far as the ceremonials on the drill square go!’

-‘Many women feel that the uniform itself is so empowering that it gives you the courage to get into combat where dust, fury the sound of the hissing bullets the thud of the bombs and explosions is all part of the the dance of death sequence which3 till yesterday only the men enjoyed! But now women have joined in to add fire to the fury!’

-‘Some cynics have said down the ages that women should be permitted to volunteer for non-combat service… We have no real way of knowing whether the kinds of training that teach men both courage and restraint would be adaptable to women or effective in a crisis. They thought that but the women did not think giving births to idiots who are now classified as cynics and critics!’

-‘The evidence of history and comparative studies of other species suggest that women as a fighting body might be far less amenable to the rules that prevent war from becoming a massacre and, with the use of modern weapons, that protect the survival of all humanity. That is what I meant by saying that women in combat might be too fierce and ferocious. Hats off to the top guns of BSF who got them into the combat role’!

-‘ As I turn on to end the introductory part of this story, I will say a simple thing, ‘when you have young men and women in combat operations and they lose their friends, one thing you quickly learn not to be ashamed of is tears.’

 

 

I always keep mentioning that there are some very close to me who are in the United States and these small little words who are very close to my sister-in-law in Delaware (USA). The words are immaculate, sharp and crisp, ‘a person like myself, born and raised in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia, to lower-middle-class parents. But I had the opportunity to get an education, to go and earn a commission in the United States Army, to serve for 22 years, to lead men and women in combat.’! I think there should be no better way to explain the whole picture!

But most of these women in BSF, the famous and the obscure, have one thing in common: they did not think of themselves as heroes. They followed their consciences, saw something that needed to be done, and they did it. And all of them helped win a war (because the men they produced fought them), even though many of them paid the ultimate price for their contribution. But their sacrifice was not in vain, especially if their courage continues to inspire others to fight injustice and evil wherever they find it, especially so the vast progeny..’ Trust me women are no less than men’! Incidentally a cat is always more skilful than a dog and when in a corner it can hit back with ferocity! Try taking a cub from a tigress and for your satisfaction get the answer!

Well what I want to say is that the fighters of a new kind have arrived and trust me they too want to do their bit for the Nation and in BSF they are doing so with all the grace and charm but ferociousness is profound!

During the conflict that has been placed before them, they have not only gained the gratitude of many in their own generation but they proved, for the first time on a global scale, the enormous value of a woman’s contribution, paving the way for future generations of women to do the same. Fabulous job done and splendid contribution given to the country of immensely vast borderline!’ A big salute is a necessity and it’s given!

Finally I will conclude this piece with a bit of nostalgia, ‘ironically, the memory of the women heroes of World War I was largely eclipsed by the very women they had inspired. The more blatant evil enacted into law by Nazi Germany during the Second World War ensured that those who fought against it would continue to fascinate long after the first war had become a vague, unpleasant memory—one brought to mind only by fading photographs of serious, helmeted young men standing in sandbagged trenches or smiling young women in ankle-length nursing uniforms, or by the presence of poppies in Remembrance Day ceremonies.’ ― Kathryn J. Atwood in her book Women Heroes of World War I: 16 Remarkable Resisters, Soldiers, Spies, and Medics was never wrong. She could not have been and she never will be! She continued into the World War-ii where again women played a great role and this is what she wrote after the battles of Iwo Lima and the Bulge when Germans gave up, ‘the women are the other half of humanity, and to overlook their place in history generally, and to the Allied effort during WWII specifically, is to leave out half the story and loose a complete understanding of the war. So I’d like to take a few moments on this Memorial Day (of both the battles) to remember some of the Allied women who made a difference in defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during WWII.’ Trust me they did it in a resounding way!