Jammu, October 27
While the troops celebrated the landing of the Indian Army in Kashmir on this day in October, 1947, to repulse the invasion of Pakistani tribesmen, the separatists and the militants registered their protest against the “landing” by observing a Kashmir bandh.
Senior Army officers, including Corps commanders, laid wreaths at the war memorial to pay tributes to the gallant soldiers who lost their lives while defending the country’s integrity and solidarity during the 1947 war.
The troops pledged to blunt the ongoing Pakistan-sponsored proxy war at these functions and the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, flew specially to an Army base in Pathankot to pay tributes to the soldiers who lost their lives while repulsing the Pakistani attack.
Mr Fernandes said the Indian troops were fully prepared to meet any challenge from across the border and announced that under a new strategy, the security forces would eliminate the menace of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
At a number of other functions, political leaders, including Prof Bhim Singh, President of the Panthers Party, said had the Indian troops not reached Srinagar on October 27, 1947, India would have lost Kashmir despite people’s anger against the Pakistani raid.
At these functions rich tributes were paid to the gallant soldiers who pushed back the Pakistani invaders right from the heart of Srinagar city where they had been massacring innocent people.
However, on a call given by the APHC, a bandh was observed in Kashmir in protest against the “landing”. Shops remained closed and transport services were off the road.
Groups of militants registered their anger against the landing of the Indian troops by hurling grenades at three places in which six civilians and three BSF personnel were wounded. In one of the rifle-grenade attacks, portion of a bank near the Dal Lake was partially damaged.
Some of the separatist leaders, including Javed Mir, were taken into preventive custody to foil their plan to take out a procession in Srinagar.
UNI adds:
The Hurriyat refers to the presence of security forces in the valley since that first operation as “continued occupation by the Indian security forces’’.
In contrast, Infantry Day was celebrated in the rest of the country, commemorating the same accomplishment of the Indian Army. A report from Baramula said security forces resorted to firing in the air to disperse a group of people who were shouting slogans and pelting stones at them as well as at the vehicles near the bus stand.
A total shut down was observed in Baramula, Sopore, Kupwara and Handwara, it added.
