Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 31: General Officer Commanding of Army’s 15 Corps, Lt General Subrata Saha today said that Army officers will continue to lead from the front in the counter-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir despite suffering casualties.
The GOC while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cycle race function here said that the sacrifice of Col M N Rai has reinforced the resolve of troops to fight all elements inimical to peace in Jammu and Kashmir. “Senior Army officers will continue to lead from the front in counter insurgency operations”, he added.
Rejecting reports that Commanding Officers (COs) will not be allowed to lead counter insurgency operation from the front, Lt General Saha said the sacrifice of Colonel MN Rai only reinforced the Army’s resolve to fight all elements inimical to peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
The GOC was responding to a question whether the Army has directed its COs not to lead any counter insurgency operations from the front as their death gives a boost to militants.
Colonel Rai and a Head Constable (HC) of Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police were killed in a fierce encounter in south Kashmirs district of Pulwama on January 27. Two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants were also killed in the encounter.
Lt General Saha said that Army will deal with the infiltration from across the Line of Control whether there is snow or no snow. It may be mentioned here that Inspector General of Border Security Forces (BSF), Kashmir, P S Sandhu, yesterday said that troops along the LoC have not lowered their guard despite snow being a natural counter infiltration barrier.
The GOC refused to talk about militancy saying this is not the occasion to talk about such things. However, early this week, he said that Army has conducted successful operations against militants last year killing 101 militants and attributed the recent success against the militants in which 10 of them were shot dead this month to proactive role of the Army.
Earlier, Lt General Saha flagged off a cycle expedition ‘SAILAB SE SALAMATI TAK’ from Srinagar to Delhi to commemorate the joint efforts of soldiers and people in saving the precious human lives in the Valley in the last year’s floods.
While flagging off the event at Badami Bagh Cantonment, the GOC said the expedition is an expression of grit with which Kashmir fought the floods and how youth symbolised the march towards ‘well being’ and ‘restoration’.
Consisting of an Army officer, a Junior Commissioned Officer, seven soldiers and 19 Kashmiri youth, the expedition will pass through number of historical places and interact with, Army Commander, Northern Command, Governor of J&K, Senior officer of Army, chief of Army Staff and President of India.
Saha said the cyclers will also participate in the annual cultural festival Mecca of the Hindu College at Delhi. The participants will be attending Mushaira, the literary festival of Hindu College centered around Kashmir.
A felicitation ceremony was also conducted wherein the Army Commander presented the chief of Army Staff, Army Commander`s Commendation Cards and Corps Commander medallions to the “deserving” officials of civil administration and youth icons of the Valley for their commendable role during flood and contributions in other fields.
Among the recipients of commendation cards, the chief of Army Commendation Card was conferred upon Ghulam Nabi Qasba, Muncipal Commissioner Srinagar, the Army Commander`s Commendation Cards were conferred to Arun Kumar Mehta, Secretary Power Development Department J&K, Dr Pawan Kotwal, Irrigation & Flood Control Department, Sreyas Mangan Bhai Patel, CEO BB Cantt and Randeep Kumar Rana, DIG, NDRF New Delhi.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel