Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 3: For the first time after independence, a unique get together was organized at Jammu Club for the families of the J&K State forces, which had not only founded this Unique State under Maharaja Gulab Singh and Gen Zorawar Singh but also defended it for 100 years till Oct 1947 when Brig Rajinder Singh saved it to enable Maharaja Hari Singh to accede to the Indian Union.
For this Brave and Historic action this Force was integrated with the Indian Army without any screening and is now one of the finest Regiments of the Indian Army ‘JAK Riffles’ with an excellent track record, which includes two Param Veer Chakras (Capt Vikram Batra and Hav Sanjay Kumar) in a single battle of Kargil War in 1999.
Over 70 members of the families of the Regiment assembled and shared their nostalgic feelings.
The event was organized at the behest of Maj Gen Goverdhan Singh Jamwal, the last General of the erstwhile J&K State Forces, by Col Prem Dogra, Lt Col Kulwant Samyal and Keshav which drew members from different parts of the Country including a member from USA covering three generations.
Maj Gen Jagdish Singh Jamwal, Capt S S Bloeria, now Vice Chancellor of the Central University Jammu, Thakur Randhir Singh, Ex-Minister and now president, State Nationalist Congress Party with his wife Kailash Rajput, Ex-Principl, Women College Jammu, the daughter of Late Maj Piara Singh, the Deputy Minister in the State Government, Lt Col Punjab Singh, Col Virendra Kumar Sahi, and Col Vijay Dutta, were among those present on the occasion.
On the occasion it was decided to hold this event every year regularly on the 2nd Sunday of March.