Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Ranjit Singh Dyal, (15 November 1928 – 29 January 2012) was an Indian Army general and an administrator. As a soldier, Ranjit Singh led the capture of the

Haji Pir pass The Pir Panjal Range ( ; ) is a range of mountains in the Lower Himalayan region located in the Western Himalayas of northern Indian subcontinent. It runs southeast to northwest between the Beas and Neelam/Kishanganga rivers, in the India ...

by the Indian army during the 1965 war with Pakistan. He also drew up the plans for

Operation Blue Star Operation Blue Star was a military operation by the Indian Armed Forces conducted between 1 and 10 June 1984 to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other Sikh militants from the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib), a holy site of Sikhism, and i ...

, and served as the General-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Command. Later, he served as Lieutenant Governor of

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: Places in India * Puducherry (union territory), formerly known as Pondicherry ** Puducherry (city), capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district The Puducherry District, also know ...

and the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...

Early life

Ranjit Singh Dyal was born in a Sikh family of the Teokar (also spelled Tuker) village in Punjab, British India (in the present-day

Kurukshetra district Kurukshetra district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. The town of Kurukshetra, a sacred place for the Hindus, is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district occupies an area of 1530.00 km2. ...

of Haryana). His father was Sardar Bahadur Risaldar Ram Singh Dyal. His brother Rattan Singh Dyal was also in the army, and was awarded the

Indian Distinguished Service Medal The Indian Distinguished Service Medal (IDSM) was a military decoration awarded by the British Empire to Indian citizens serving in the Indian armed forces and military police. When it was instituted in 1907 it was the second highest award avail ...

. He attended the Rashtriya Military School, Chail.

Military career

Dyal completed his schooling from Rashtriya Military School Chail and then graduation in 1942, and was admitted to the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

in 1946. He was later commissioned in the

Punjab Regiment Punjab Regiment may refer to the following existing units: *Punjab Regiment (India) *Punjab Regiment (Pakistan) From 1922 to 1947, the British Indian Army included 6 numbered Punjab Regiments: *1st Punjab Regiment * 2nd Punjab Regiment *8th Punj ...

(

Para Para, or PARA, may refer to: Businesses, professions, and organizations * Paramount Global, traded as PARA on the Nasdaq stock exchange * Para Group, the former name of CT Corp * Para Rubber, now Skellerup, a New Zealand manufacturer * Para ...

) of the Indian Army, and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, which participated in the first Indo-Pak War during 1948 as a part of the 50 Independent Parachute Brigade. Between 1959 and 1962, he was deployed in the

North-East Frontier Agency The North–East Frontier Agency (NEFA), originally known as the North-East Frontier Tracts (NEFT), was one of the political divisions in British India, and later the Republic of India until 20 January 1972, when it became the Union territory, U ...

(NEFA) sector. After further education from the

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air ...

, he was posted as a

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section direct ...

to the 50 Independent Para Brigade. Subsequently, he became second-in-command of the 1st

(

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

) battalion in the Uri sector. He later commanded this battalion during 1965-1968 in Jammu & Kashmir, and also as part of the 50 Independent Para Brigade at

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

. * Military personnel from Himachal Pradesh

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Ranjit Singh (then a

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

) led the 1st Para team to capture the strategic

(which was later handed over to Pakistan after the

Tashkent Agreement The Tashkent Declaration was signed between India and Pakistan on 10 January 1966 to resolve the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Peace was achieved on 23 September through interventions by the Soviet Union and the United States, both of which pus ...

). According to the original plan prepared by

Harbaksh Singh Lieutenant General Harbaksh Singh, VrC (1 October 1913 – 14 November 1999) was an Indian senior military officer. As the commander of the Western Command, Singh commanded the Indian Army and played a key role during the Indo-Pakistani War o ...

, the then General-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Western Command, the Army was to capture Rustan and Badori (or Bedori) on the way to the Haji Pir pass. Ranjit Singh's unit was tasked with capturing Sank, Sar and Ledwali Gali to stop the enemy infiltration. However, the attack on Sank on the night of 25/26 August was unsuccessful, resulting in 18 casualties. Ranjit Singh's paratroopers captured Sank on the night of 26/27 August, and Point 1033 the next day. Meanwhile, four attacks on Rustan and Badori by other battalions had proved unsuccessful. Ranjit Singh then volunteered to capture the Haji Pir pass, and his battalion took over the operation on 27 August. The unit moved along the Hyderabad nullah with only damp shakarparas and

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

s as

field ration A field ration is a type of prepackaged military ration designed to be easily and quickly prepared and consumed in the field, in combat, at the front line, or where eating facilities are otherwise unavailable. Field rations are primarily used ...

. Ranjit Singh's paratroopers were fired upon by the Pakistani Army, but were saved by an unexpected shower. They subsequently captured some Pakistani soldiers from a house during the trek, took over their weapons and used them as load carriers for rest of the journey to the pass. The unit launched the final assault on the pass on 28 August, walking up 4,000 feet on foot. The attack was successful, as the Pakistan troops retreated from the pass. Ranjit Singh Dyal was awarded the

Maha Vir Chakra The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) () is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the B ...

for this operation.

Maha Vir Chakra Citation

The citation for the

reads as follows In 1984, Ranjit Singh Dyal was appointed the security adviser to the Governor of Punjab for the

, and effectively had the overall charge of leading the assault. At that time, he was chief of staff of the Western Army Command. Along with

Kuldip Singh Brar Lieutenant General Kuldip Singh Brar, PVSM, AVSM, VrC (born 1934) is a retired Indian Army officer, who was involved in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. As a major general, he commanded Operation Blue Star. Early days Brar was born in 1934 in ...

and

Krishnaswamy Sundarji General (India), General Krishnaswamy "Sundarji" Sundararajan, (28 April 1928 – 8 February 1999) was the Chief of the Army Staff (India), Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1986 to 1988. He was the last former British In ...

, he drew up the plans to evict the Khalistani militants from the

Golden Temple The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the Holy place, holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, Pakistan, ...

in Amritsar. In 2005, the Chandigarh police arrested two

Babbar Khalsa Babbar Khalsa, officially Babbar Khalsa International (BKI, , ), is a Khalistani militant organisation that aims to create an independent nation-state of Khalistan in the Punjab region. It has used armed attacks, assassinations and bombings in ...

militants recruited by

Jagtar Singh Hawara Jagtar Singh Hawara is a high level member of Babbar Khalsa who is currently serving life imprisonment at Tihar Jail. He was convicted as a conspirator in the assassination of 12th Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh. Hawara was declared a ...

to kill Ranjit Singh in retaliation for the Operation Blue Star. Ranjit Singh later became the General-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Southern Command. He also served as the first head of the Chandigarh regional chapter of the

Officers Association (PROA) in 2008.

Gubernatorial career

Ranjit Singh Dyal served as the 10th

Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (formerly known as "Pondicherry") is a Union Territory of India. Governance and administration of the territory fall under the federal authority. List of chief governing officers Commissioners * Fra ...

. He served from June 1988 to February 1990. After this stint, Dyal took over as the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Last days

In his last years, General Singh was diagnosed with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

. He died on 29 January 2012 in the Command Hospital at

Panchkula Panchkula (ISO: ''Paṁcakulā'') is a city and district headquarter in the Panchkula district in Haryana, India. It is a satellite town of the state capital Chandigarh. Panchkula is a border city with Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh ...

, where he had been admitted for

terminal care End-of-life care is health care provided in the time leading up to a person's death. End-of-life care can be provided in the hours, days, or months before a person dies and encompasses care and support for a person's mental and emotional needs, phy ...

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dyal, Ranjit Singh Indian generals Lieutenant governors of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lieutenant governors of Puducherry Recipients of the Maha Vir Chakra Military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 People from Kurukshetra district Para Commandos 2012 deaths 1928 births Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal People from Punjab Province (British India)