Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the nations is proud of its brave military personnel who are determined and devoted to the country’s safety.
“My warm regards to the bravehearts who offer the supreme sacrifice and are symbols of inspiration for every generation,” Modi said after inaugurating the Parakram Parv exhibition at the Combined Commanders’ Conference in Jodhpur to mark the second anniversary of the Indian Army’s surgical strikes.
The Konark Corps organised the exhibition at the Jodhpur military station. Before the inauguration, Modi paid homage to martyrs at the Konark war memorial.
The prime minister is likely to be briefed by defence chiefs on the situation prevailing along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, the Line of Actual control along the border with China and in Kashmir Valley. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will also attend the conference, reported PTI. The prime minister was scheduled to fly back to New Delhi in the afternoon.
The Centre has asked the Jammu and Kashmir education department to ensure that schools celebrate Surgical Strike Day for three days starting Friday. National Conference chief Omar Abdullah tweeted a photo of the circular that also instructed the institutions to send compliance reports with video and photographic evidence.
The directive asks the schools to organise activities like students “pledging support to the armed forces by writing letters and cards” to the Army. “All schools with units of the National Cadet Corps shall organise special parade followed by motivational lectures or talks by inviting war veterans and other related persons,” the circular read.
Modi government exploiting Army’s sacrifices: Congress
The Congress on Tuesday praised the Army for successfully conducting “multiple surgical strikes” over the last two decades and criticised the Modi-led government for using the “blood and sacrifice of our jawans as a tool to garner votes”.
The Opposition party said Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah dishonoured the armed forces on October 7, 2016, “by disregarding the supreme sacrifices made in the five wars and numerous surgical strikes”.
The Congress also raised questions about Modi’s commitment to safeguarding national security with regard to ceasefire violations and “China’s illegal occupation of Doklam”. The party also accused the Centre of dishonouring the forces by “denying their claims for ‘one rank, one pension’”.
2016 surgical strikes
On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army claimed to have carried out “surgical strikes on terror launchpads” across the Line of Control to neutralise alleged infiltrators the previous night. Pakistan denied any such attacks and said India was deliberately using the term “surgical strikes” to describe existing “cross-border fire” operations for “media hype”.
A surgical strike is a military attack aimed to harm only the intended target and ensure minimal collateral damage to general public infrastructure and utilities around it.
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