City ignores Kargil War Vijay Diwas

Thursday was Kargil War Vijay Diwas, a day to mark the anniversary of official declaration of eviction of all Pakistani intruders from the Indian soil. Many Indian Army personnel sacrificed their lives in the Kargil conflict. But hardly anyone in the State capital bothered to pay homage to the martyrs and to commemorate the Indian victory on its anniversary, except a rally organised by an NGO in the old city on Thursday.

Neither did the State government nor any organisation evince interest in remembering the 13 Kargil War Vijay Diwas. Call it apathy or negligence, a majority of educational institutions too ignored to remember the sacrifices of Indian soldiers.

The State government had earlier organised programmes during Kargil War Vijay Diwas on July 26 but apparently it failed to hold events for the past few years, said Citizens Council Andhra Pradesh (CCAP) president Dr. Raj Narayan Mudiraj.

The lanes and by-lanes of the old city came alive with the patriotic fervour as children and social activists who turned up in large numbers for the Kargil War Vijay Diwas marched in the streets.

Close to 800 schoolchildren waving the tricolour took part in the rally that commenced from Lal Darwaza and passed through the main thoroughfares of Sudha Talkies, Gowlipura, Chatrinaka and again culminated at Lal Darwaza.

Photographs of Kargil war heroes -- Padmapani Acharya, Manoj Talwar, Mariappan Saravanan and Amir Bhardwaj were also displayed during the rally.

Two M.Tech students from Malakpet, Om Aditya and Vednath Arya, who visited Kargil on a motorcycle last month, too participated in the rally.

“We organised the event to educate students about Kargil war,” Dr. Raj Narayan said. He requested the school managements to organise these programmes in their institutions to create awareness among students.

Eleven army personnel from the State, including Padmapani Acharya from Vanasthalipuram and Manoj Talwar from Alwal sacrificed their lives during the Kargil war.