Two Indian peacekeepers to be honoured posthumously with Dag Hammarskjold medal
As per the statement, Brigadier Amitabh Jha was attached to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), overseeing the delicate ceasefire arrangements in the Golan Heights. At the same time, Havildar Sanjay Singh was deployed with the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), where he worked to stabilise conflict-affected regions.
Notably, the medals will be presented posthumously during a solemn ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on May 29, which marks the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers -- an occasion dedicated to honouring the more than 4,300 peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948 while serving under the UN flag.
As per the statement, the Dag Hammarskjold Medal, established by UN Security Council Resolution 1121 in 1997, is named after the second UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjold, who died in a 1961 plane crash while on a peace mission. The medal is awarded annually to military, police, and civilian personnel who make the ultimate sacrifice while serving in UN peacekeeping operations.
The statement observed that India, as one of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, has provided more than 200,000 personnel across 49 missions over the decades, and many Indian peacekeepers have been honored with this medal in past years.
As per a previous statement by the MEA, India has been a key contributor to global peace and security, with over 2,90,000 peacekeepers serving in more than 50 UN missions. Currently, over 5,000 Indian peacekeepers are deployed in 9 active missions, working in challenging conditions to promote international peace. (ANI)
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We in today's India, can only speculate at what an Indian Chief justice would do, if a brother judge offered his resignation to defend a child charged under the UAPA or other draconian legislation. Defence of national unity A defence committee had been formed by the Congress. It included many legends: Tej Bahadur Sapru, Asaf Ali, K.N. Katju, and a younger Nehruvian generation eager to lend voice to freedom. All appeared pro bono. But they still needed a place to work. It was Sir Achhru Ram who arranged for a bungalow in West Delhi — a legal war room where briefs were prepared, arguments debated, and strategy planned. The bungalow became a crucible of national lawyering, where personal egos gave way to the national cause. The INA Defence Committee knew there was only one man who could carry the moral and legal weight of the case: Bhulabhai Desai of Bombay. But Desai, gravely ill and advised complete rest, initially declined. 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Its soldiers, therefore, were prisoners of war, not traitors. Desai invoked international law, the Atlantic Charter, and common sense. M.C. Setalvad, in his biography of Desai, records, 'His fundamental thesis was 'that a nation or part of a nation does reach a stage where it is entitled to wage war for its liberation'; that was well-accepted International Law. If he was right, acts done by persons acting as a part of the nation which was fighting for its liberation would be immune, by reason of International Law, from being offences under the municipal law of the country. He urged that the evidence led by the prosecution itself showed that, in the case before the Court, there was really a Provisional Government of Free India — a separate new Indian State which was fighting for the liberation of hundreds of thousands of Indian nationals.' Outside the Red Fort, slogans rang through the air: 'Lal Qile se uthi aawaz: Sehgal, Dhillon, Shahnawaz!' The names became household symbols of courage and 'a dramatic symbol of national unity'. Not only did the Congress express sympathy with them and organise their defence, the Muslim League also took the same attitude. A great wave of patriotic feeling and sympathy swept the whole country. Jawaharlal Nehru best described the national mood, later in a letter dated May 4, 1946 to the British Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Auchinleck: 'Within a few weeks the story of the I.N.A. had percolated to the remotest villages in India and everywhere there was admiration for them and apprehension as to their possible fate. No political organization, however strong and efficient, could have produced this enormous reaction in India. It was one of those rare things which just fit into the mood of the people, reflect as it were, and provide an opportunity for the public to give expression to that mood. The reason for this was obvious. Individuals were not known nor were many facts known to the pubic. The story as it developed seemed to the people just another aspect of India's struggle for independence and the individuals concerned became symbols in the public mind.' Then Jawaharlal Nehru donned his lawyer's robes again after 30 years and stood as one of the 17 lawyers for the defence. The people of Delhi and its surrounding areas, simply came and stood outside the Red Fort to express solidarity with those on trial. Many years later, Ch Bansilal a fellow MP, told Subhashini Ali, the daughter of Prem and Lakshmi Sehgal, how he, as a young lad, would take a few rotis packed by his mother, catch a bus from distant Bhiwani and come to Delhi to stand in solidarity. He was not the only one. At Sharif Manzil in Ballimaran, crowds would gather on its roof to look towards the Red Fort. Tea would be supplied by the household of the Hakim family which owned the building. Hakim Sahab had to send word one day that the people were welcome, but not in such a number as to cause the roof to fall down. This unity of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and women under the INA banner posed an existential threat to colonial rule. For a brief moment, a still undivided India saw what unity in diversity could look like. The judges still ruled guilty and sentenced Sehgal, Dhillon and Shahnawaz to transportation for life, but the verdict was political suicide for the Raj. Auchinleck wrote to the British government, 'while nothing that we do now will gain us positive goodwill, we can substantially reduce the present bitterness by calling off these trials and announcing a general amnesty... If it should be felt advisable in the light of the general political background to adopt the solution, which appears to be recommended practically unanimously by Indian opinion, of dropping the remaining trials, the only possible way to proceed would, in my opinion, be for His Majesty's Government, possibly in the name of the King himself, to state that, while they think the line taken in India by the Government is both logical and in accordance with humanity, they feel that they must recognise the wave of sentiment of this subject which has swept over India, and in view of the coming political talks, they have therefore decided on a general amnesty.' The advice given by Auchinleck was accepted. The sentences of transportation were remitted and never carried out. Desai retuned to Bombay in January 1946, but collapsed soon after and died in May 1946. His courtroom performance at the Red Fort remains one of the most heroic episodes in Indian legal history. A final flicker The INA trials were India's last great moment of national unity before the darkness of Direct Action Day and Partition descended. Within months, the harmony of Sehgal, Dhillon, and Shahnawaz gave way to communal carnage and conflagration that shattered India. But the trials remind us that the idea of India — inclusive, just, and fair — was not born out of compromise, but of courage. The judiciary, the Bar, and the people showed what it meant to rise above circumstance. It is that India we must remember every August 15. The Red Fort once hosted courtrooms. It now hosts the Prime Minister's speech. Perhaps this Independence Day, someone will remember that it once echoed not with just oratory, but with the cry: 'Lal Qile se uthi aawaz: Sehgal, Dhillon, Shahnawaz!' And maybe, just maybe, we'll listen. After freedom Justice Achhru Ram returned to the Bench and later confirmed the death sentences of Gandhiji's assassins. Post-retirement, he became India's first Custodian-General of Evacuee Property and later enjoyed a distinguished career as a senior advocate in the Supreme Court. Captain Prem Sehgal and Captain Lakshmi Sahgal married and settled in Kanpur. Lakshmi resumed her career as a gynaecologist and later joined the Communist Party. She ran for President of India as the Opposition's candidate. Their daughter, Subhashini Ali, followed her into public life and activism. Arthur Trevor Harries, ever the fair-minded judge, sought to become Chief Justice in the new dominion of Pakistan. But Jinnah did not approve of him. Harries quietly continued as Chief Justice of Calcutta and retired in 1952 and returned to England. General Shahnawaz Khan, though his family belonged to the area which became Pakistan, chose to stay on in India. He even served as a Minister in several Union Cabinets. He semi-adopted a girl from Hyderabad, Lateef Fatima, who married one of his aides from Peshawar Meer Taj Mohammed Khan. The son from that marriage would go on to embody a syncretic India on the silver screen. His name is Shahrukh Khan. Sanjay Hegde is a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India.
