Paying tributes to the jawans and officers of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force who defeated Pakistan in a direct military confrontation 50 years back, the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday warned that if challenged yet again the Indian troops would repeat the 1971 war theatre.
Obviously addressing Pakistan but not naming any country, Sinha asserted that the Indian armed forces would not back off from repeating the 1971 war if challenged yet again by an enemy. Warning the “neighbouring country” against her “nefarious designs and attempts to create instability in Jammu and Kashmir”, Sinha said that the capability of “our brave soldiers is proof that we are determined to protect our motherland”.
“The neighbouring country is running the biggest terror factory in the world. Terror has been her policy. But despite the crushing defeats, it has not mended its ways. It must remember its defeats in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999”, Sinha said in Jammu at ‘Swarnim Vijay Celebration’, marking 50 years of India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war. The 14-day-long war had resulted in the surrender of over 93,000 Pakistani troops on 16 December, 1971.
The war in which 2,500 Indian soldiers laid down their life and more than 9,000 Pakistani soldiers were killed, also severed erstwhile East Pakistan from West Pakistan and created the independent country of Bangladesh on the Eastern front.
Asserting that India has been a supporter of peace since ancient times and has never adopted the policy of expansionism despite being a superpower, Sinha said: “We have lived the values of peaceful coexistence and mutual harmony and believed in the philosophy of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam ( the world is one family). But we never lowered our guard and successfully conquered every challenge”.
“We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will continue with our mission to develop Atmanirbhar Jammu Kashmir. But we will not forget and we will not forgive those behind breeding terrorists. We are determined to completely dismantle their terror ecosystem”, Sinha asserted.
“Today, I pay my tributes to the brave soldiers, officers of Army, Navy and Air Force, who demonstrated amazing valour and sacrifices in the 1971 war. I bow down with reverence to all the brave hearts who attained martyrdom in that war. Our nation will always be indebted to their supreme sacrifice”, Sinha said. “On this day in 1971, our brave soldiers and officers not only changed the geography, but also took a giant leap in establishing our country as a global super power”.
On the occasion which was attended by top functionaries of the J&K Government, Chief Secretary AK Mehta, General Officer Commanding Northern Command, Lt. Gen. YK Joshi, Sinha also released a ‘Special Cover’ and unveiled the mural of Ashok Chakra Awardee, ASI Babu Ram of the J&K Police in presence of his family members.
ASI Babu Ram of Jammu laid the sacrifice of life in an encounter at Zewan on the outskirts in Srinagar, on 29-30 Agust 2020, after he and his associates chased a group of terrorists and pinned them down inside a house following their attack on a Police check-post on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. All the three terrorists were killed in the nightlong encounter.
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