Onkar Singh Kalkat

Major–General Onkar Singh Kalkat, PVSM, (1 February 19183 December 2004) was an Indian military officer in the British Indian Army and later the Indian Army. Soon after the partition of India in 1947, he stumbled upon the plans for an Operation Gulmarg, which were apparently Pakistani plans to attack the princely state of Kashmir, two months before they were to commence. Even though he conveyed the information to the Indian authorities, he was not taken seriously. Senior Indian officials including the-then Defence Minister of India Sardar Baldev Singh, Brigadier Kalwant Singh and the DGMO, Col. P. N. Thapar, were complicit in the delay in taking action on Kalkat's information. Kalkat's account also shows the complicity of some British officials in the 1947 invasion of Kashmir.

Early life Onkar Singh Kalkat was a postgraduate in economics from the University of Delhi.

Military career He joined the British Indian Army at the age of 24 and studied at the Defence Services Staff College. He saw operations in both the Northeast India and Burma between 1938–45, and in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 and then in 1971 when he was commander of the 14 Infantry, leading the recapture of 32 posts from the Pakistanis. He then worked first as an instructor and then as a Commandant at College of Combat, Mhow. He opted for voluntary retirement at the age of 54 in 1972.

Pakistan's Invasion Plans

At the time of partition of India, Major Kalkat was the Brigade Major of the Bannu Frontier Brigade Group, in present-day Pakistan, under the Command of Brigadier C. P. Murry, a British officer; who were waiting to go back to India and England, respectively. It was then in August 1947 that Kalkat stumbled upon information related to Pakistan's invasion of Kashmir, Operation Gulmarg, that was to commence in October. Kalkat was authorised to open letters for Brigadier CP Murry in his absence. On 20 August 1947, Kalkat opened one such letter from General Frank Walter Messervy, and found attached the plans for Operation Gulmarg.

Kalkat informed Brigadier Murry of the letter, who in turn told him to tell no one about the information in Pakistan as it could get him killed. However, soon afterwards, Kalkat was put under house arrest by the Pakistani Army suspecting that something was up. Kalkat escaped his captors, left Mir Ali Mirali, reached Ambala in Indian Punjab and, on 18 October 1947, headed to Delhi in a goods train. The following day he met senior military officials including Brigadier Kalwant Singh, Col. P. N. Thapar (then the Director of Military Operations) and Sardar Baldev Singh, the Defence Minister, and told them about what he knew of the impending attack. But no one took Major Kalkat seriously enough to take action and the "British-staffed intelligence directorate paid no heed to it". At that time, the "impending invasion" was being reported from multiple locations.

In 1983, Kalkat wrote a book called Far-flung Frontiers in which he described his experiences. The foreword of the book was written by Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, then a Brigadier, who agreed with Kalkat's narrative.

Publications First published in 1983, The Far-Flung Frontiers by Major-General O.S. Kalkat is said to be one of the most "significant" military autobiographies written in India "in terms of military value and the scope it covers".