The Indian Army on Wednesday re-enacted an air induction exercise at Srinagar’s technical airport to commemorate the 75th year of its arrival in Jammu & Kashmir on October 27, 1947.
The Army’s daredevil paratroopers demonstrated skydiving to mark the occasion. A video clip and a drama performance depicting the events of the invasion by Pakistan in 1947, and the role of local Maqbool Sherwani and Kashmiri women militia in defence of Kashmir, was also showcased.
“It was the Pakistan Army disguised as Pashtun tribals that, on reaching Baramulla, created havoc and rampaged the entire town; killed, raped and looted the innocents; burnt houses, hospitals and churches,” J&K Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha said.
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He also laid a floral wreath at the war memorial and honoured the kin of Kashmir’s defenders.
“The historic air landing operation conducted by the Indian Army and Air Force in the face of the enemy, and the subsequent eviction of Pakistani forces, was the first landmark military action of Independent India,” L-G Sinha said.
It was 75 years ago that the Indian Army’s first Dakota aircraft, with Lieutenant Colonel D.R. Rai and Army personnel on board, had reached the Srinagar airport.
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“I salute the courage of the immortal heroes and saviours of Jammu Kashmir — Brigadier Rajinder Singh, Major Somnath Sharma, Lt. Col. Rai, Maqbool Sherwani, and all those great personalities who sacrificed their lives to save J&K from the Pakistan Army’s invasion,” the L-G said.
He said the new generation must be told about the barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Pakistan, killing of thousands of innocents. “They must know the brutality executed by the neighbouring country, also the biggest terror sponsor,” he added.
Lieutenant General D.P. Pandey, General Officer Commanding of the 15 Corps, while recalling the series of events that took place in 1947, paid homage to all the soldiers who were martyred in the October 1947 attack by the Pakistan Army.
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command, Air Marshal Amit Dev, who also spoke on the occasion, said the Air Force was fully prepared to deal with the drone challenge in J&K.
On Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, he said, “We don’t have a plan [to capture it] as of now but it will happen one day as the people of Kashmir from another side of the border are not being treated fairly.”
He said the main challenge before the forces was the pace of change in technology. “We have to keep pace with that,” he said.
Old city shutdown
Meanwhile, a spontaneous shutdown was observed in Srinagar’s old city, a separatist hub, on the occasion.
All shops were closed at Rajouri Kadal, Gojwara, Nowhatta and the Naqsbandh Sahib Road. Higher deployment of security forces was made in the area to keep protesters at bay.