Dyal completed his schooling from
Rashtriya Military School Chail and then graduation in 1942, and was admitted to the
Indian Military Academy,
Dehradun in 1946. He was later commissioned in the
Punjab Regiment (
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 (NEFA) sector. After further education from the
Defence Services Staff College, he was posted as a
brigade major to the 50 Independent Para Brigade. Subsequently, he became second-in-command of the 1st
Para (
Special Forces) 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. •
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 During the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Ranjit Singh (then a
Major) led the 1st Para team to capture the strategic
Haji Pir pass (which was later handed over to Pakistan after the
Tashkent Agreement). According to the original plan prepared by
Lieutenant General Harbaksh Singh, 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
biscuits as
field ration. In 1984, Ranjit Singh Dyal was appointed the security adviser to the Governor of Punjab for the
Operation Blue Star, 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 and
Krishnaswamy Sundarji, he drew up the plans to evict the
Khalistani militants from the
Golden Temple in Amritsar. In 2005, the Chandigarh police arrested two
Babbar Khalsa militants recruited by
Jagtar Singh Hawara 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
Punjab Regiment Officers Association (PROA) in 2008. == Gubernatorial career ==