As a soldier, Ranjit Singh led the capture of the Haji Pir pass by the Indian army during the 1965 war with Pakistan.

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 of Haryana).

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.

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).

[3] 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.

The citation for the Maha Vir Chakra reads as follows[5] Gazette Notification: 124 Pres/65,10-9-65 Operation: 1965 May - Ablaze Date of Award: 25 Aug 1965

Acting with cool courage, Major Dyal managed to extricate his company intact and on the following night he again led an assault and captured Sank.

Along with Kuldip Singh Brar and Krishnaswamy Sundarji, he drew up the plans to evict the Khalistani militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.