history of jammu and kashmir rifles

On the death of their General, the Dogra troops were soon thrown in disorder and they fled helterskelter.
Some 600, including all the principal officers, were taken prisoners 21 while two large cannons
together with their mounts and numerous muskets, swords, shields and other weapons fell to the
Tibetans.
The Aftermath
Having annihilated the major portion of the Dogra force the Tibetans now turned towards the last few
Dogra posts that were still holding out. The most important of these posts was the Chi-Tang fort held
by 500 Dogras under Basti Ram and this received their prime attention. The fort was subjected to
heavy bombardment from large guns which had arrived from Lhasa as reinforcements. The walls of
the fort gave way under this fire but the Dogras clung to the battered fort and repulsed repeated
Tibetan assaults. The fighting continued like this for nearly three weeks by which time the garrison
had suffered about 300 men killed. With such a large number of casualties, and supplies totally
exhausted, Basti Ram could hold the fort no longer. Consequently in the first week of January 1842 he
abandoned the fort and led his men towards the British Indian border. He was pursued by the
Tibetans and in the running fight many of his men were either killed or captured, before they could
cross over to safety. Finally only 242 men including Basti Ram made it to Askot in the Kumaon Hills.
Even as the fighting at Chi-Tang was continuing the Tibetans had sent out detachments against
other posts that were still intact. As a first step they had cut the supply lines that were still functioning
and killed all the Dogras engaged in the transportation of supplies. The posts were then attacked in
overwhelming numbers and long before Chi-Tang was vacated ill the other major Dogra posts had
fallen. Most of the troops holding them had either been killed fighting or had been captured, while
some perished in the snow during flight. Thereafter large Tibetan Army went into action to exterminate
all the other small pockets of resistance and to seek out the fugitives that may have been hiding in the
countryside. This operation was completed by the end of March, by which time all the Dogras had
been flushed out of Tibet.
Indeed a great disaster had befallen the Dogras. Of a total of about 6000 strong Army (including-the
camp followers) that had entered Tibet not more than 1100 could have escaped alive and of these
about 800 are believed to have been prisoners of war. Not only had the Dogras lost their greatest
General but had also suffered great humiliation in that Zorawar Singh's severed head had been
placed at a thoroughfare at Lhasa for the public to view. All this had been bad enough but what was to
follow was even worse. Elated by their victory the Tibetans, with the backing of the Chinese, began to
conceive plans for the conquest of Ladakh, which now lay defenceless before them. Among the
prisoners taken by the Tibetans were the Gonpo of Ladakh and Raja Ahmed Shah of Skardu. The
Tibetans now used these persons for engineering revolts in Ladakh and Baltistan respectively. Very
soon both these regions were in the grip of a widespread rebellion which was not within the capability
of the small Dogra garrisons located there to control.
In Ladakh a large rebel Army about 2500 strong, raised under the Gonpo entered Leh and declared
Jisgmad Namgyal as an independent Gyalpo of Ladakh. Simultaneously the rebels appealed to the
Tibetans for help in ridding the land of the Dogras. At that time the Dogra garrison in and around Leh
was about 300 strong. It was organized in two units - one under Thanadar Magna, which occupied the
fort and the other under Pehalwan Singh, which was lodged in the Gyalpo's stables, after these had
been duly fortified and strengthened for defence. Reportedly Pehalwan Singh had under him a Fateh
platoon under Subedar Tegh Singh. 22 After entering Leh the rebels started harassing the Dogra
garrisons and tried to cut them off from each other. Desultory fighting between the Dogras and the
rebels continued like this for several days without the rebels gaining any success. Thereafter the
rebels contented themselves with besieging the two Dogra posts and cutting off their supplies. Other
small Dogra garrisons spread all over Ladakh were, however, easily overpowered by the rebels and
the soldiers were either killed or captured. Of all the places in Ladakh, Dras alone remained peaceful.
The situation in Baltistan was no better. The Chiefs of Rondu, Khapalu, Kuru all opted for the cause
of the rebels and declared themselves independent of the Dogras. The Raja of Shigar who hesitated
was deposed by Haidar Khan (the leader of the rebels after the death of Ahmed Shah) and his country
was taken over by the rebel leader himself. In fact the only chief who remained true to his salt was the
Raja of Skardu. Ultimately, however, he too was overpowered by the rebels and interned in the
Skardu Monastery while his territories were taken over by the rebel chief Haidar Khan. Bhagwan
Singh, Thanadar of Skardu, along with the Dogra garrison, was imprisoned and moved to Nihali.
Haidar Khan then sought the security of his newly acquired territories by obtaining reinforcements
from Nagar.
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