'By pursuing this case, Captain Saurabh Kalia and the five soldiers will not come back to us, but this is the least I can do as a humble citizen of India to honour Indian soldiers,' says Dr N K Kalia on his struggle for justice for his son who was brutally tortured, mutilated and killed by the Pakistan army in the Kargil war.

Kargil's first heroes, Captain Saurabh Kalia, 22, and his patrol of five soldiers were brutally tortured and killed in captivity by the Pakistan army. Their mutilated bodies were returned after 22 days on June 9, 1999 at the peak of the Kargil War.

For 14 years since then, Captain Saurabh Kalia's father, Dr N K Kalia, a retired scientist, has been relentlessly pursuing the Indian government to take up the case with the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Dr Kalia has waged a constant struggle to have this declared a war crime in accordance with the Geneva Convention so that the guilty are punished.

Seeing that the government had not taken appropriate action, he approached the Supreme Court in 2012 seeking its direction to the government to raise his son's case at the International Court of Justice at the Hague.

Continuing his tireless fight, Dr Kalia also filed a petition with the United Nations Human Rights Council along with Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar last year and hoped that the government would back his petition.

Last week, the Indian government washed its hands off and said that it would not raise the issue internationally because India was committed to settling its differences with Pakistan only through bilateral talks.

Fully aware that this is an issue between nations and cannot be fought alone, Dr Kalia is not one to give up hope. "I will continue to fight, hoping against hope till my last breath," he says.

"By pursuing this case, Captain Saurabh Kalia and the five soldiers will not come back to us, but this is the least I can do as a humble citizen of India to honour Indian soldiers who serve our country in harsh conditions ranging from minus 50 to plus 50 degrees temperatures everyday," he told Rediff.com's Archana Masih in a telephone interview from his home in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh.

What are you going to do now that the GoI has said it will not pursue this case at the international forum according to the Geneva Convention because this is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan?

When one hears what the honourable defence minister has commented, one wonders if this is the defence minister of a huge country like India. I feel saddened and disheartened.

I am basically an optimist by nature and I believe in never say die. Now I pin my hopes on the honourable Supreme Court of India where our case is pending for hearing.

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