Former Army Chief Gen Rao passes away

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, January 30

Former Army Chief General KV Krishna Rao, who played a key role in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, died today in New Delhi. He was 92. During the 1971 war, General Rao, who was heading the 8 mountain division then, and Lt Gen Sagat Singh, who was leading the 4 Corps, launched the first-ever helicopter-borne launch of troops in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. 

*Obituary:

For the job, General Rao had handpicked troops of the 4/5 Gorkha Rifles (the battalion of the current Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag). On December 6, General Rao’s division was tasked to capture Sylhet in the north-eastern part of that country. Six brigades of the Pakistan Army had fortified the town. The plan to send its own troops onboard helicopters was audacious. However, in a 12-hour operation using Mi-4 helicopters of the Indian Air Force, a full brigade of the Army had been moved across the Surma river. The troops had held back Pakistanis who were forced to surrender and that move allowed the other Indian troops to capture Dacca, the then name of Dhaka, from the eastern flank.

During his tenure as the Army Chief from June 1, 1981, to July 1983, General Rao conceptualised to fortify defences in Arunachal Pradesh fearing Chinese incursions, a plan that was finally put in place under “Operation Falcon” in 1986 by General K Sundarji.

General Rao was commissioned into the Army in August 1942. He had served in Burma, North West Frontier and Baluchistan during the Second World War. He was Chairman of the expert committee constituted by the government on Re-organisation and Modernisation for Defence of the country. He was the Western Army Commander during 1979-81.

He was appointed the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, when a proxy war developed in the state and reached its peak. Barring a three-year break, he was the Jammu and Kashmir Governor till May 1998. In this capacity, he was instrumental in restoring peace and democracy in the insurgency-riven state. 

In a condolence message, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said: “The country has lost one of its best known military leaders.” Army Chief General Suhag also expressed deep condolences on General Rao’s demise.