Bana Top - Highest Combat
Naib Subedar Bana Singh's Capture of Quaid Post
In 1987, Naib Subedar Bana Singh led a team to capture 'Quaid Post' at 21,000 feet - the highest battlefield action in history. Climbing vertical ice walls at night, in a blizzard, his team took the post in hand-to-hand combat. The post was renamed 'Bana Top' in his honor.
The Peak That Mocked India
By 1987, three years had passed since Operation Meghdoot secured the Siachen Glacier for India. But a thorn remained embedded in India's side - a Pakistani position called Quaid Post, perched at 21,153 feet (6,450 meters) on the Siachen heights.
The post was named after Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founder. From this position, Pakistani soldiers could observe Indian movements and direct artillery fire onto Indian supply routes. It was a constant threat, a daily humiliation, and a strategic liability.
Two previous Indian attempts to capture the post had failed. The approach was nearly vertical - a 457-meter (1,500 feet) ice wall that had to be climbed in temperatures of -50°C, with Pakistani machine guns waiting at the top. After each failed attempt, morale dipped. Some began to whisper that Quaid Post was impregnable.
Then came Bana Singh.
A Farmer's Son from Punjab
Bana Singh was born on January 6, 1949, in Kadyal village, Jammu - a Sikh farming family with no military tradition. He joined the Indian Army in 1969 at age 20, enlisting in the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAK LI) - a regiment raised from the hardy people of the Himalayan foothills.
By 1987, Bana Singh was a seasoned soldier - a Naib Subedar (equivalent to a sergeant) with nearly two decades of service. He was 38 years old, an age when many soldiers think of retirement. But Bana Singh was thinking of the peak that had defeated India twice.
His unit, 8 JAK Light Infantry, was deployed on the Siachen Glacier. Bana Singh had watched two assault teams go up that ice wall. He had seen them come back defeated - or not come back at all. He knew the mountain. He knew the enemy positions. And he knew it could be done.
He volunteered to lead the next attempt.