NEW DELHI/DRASS/JAMMU: On the 15th anniversary of country’s victory over Pakistan in the Kargil War, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday paid homage to the Indian soldiers killed in the battle in the summer of 1999.
Jaitley went to Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate here along with Army Chief General Bikram Singh, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Navy Chief Admiral Rabindra Kumar Dhowan to pay floral tributes to the brave soldiers.
Jaitley told journalists that the government would soon finalise the site for a “grand” National War Memorial, which will come up at Princess Park close to India Gate for which `100 crore was allocated in the Budget.
The minister said he would be visiting the location with the armed forces chiefs “in a day or two” to take an appropriate decision.
Jaitley said the government was of the view that a national war memorial was required, where names of all those who sacrificed their lives for the country will be engraved.
Also, since the site identified had space available for the memorial, it was considered the “best” location and was short-listed.
Noting that the memorial construction “will take some time because we want it to be a grand war memorial and war museum”, he said as soon as the details are finalised, sanctions from all departments concerned would be sought. To another query, Jaitley denied there was fund shortage for defence modernisation.
‘LAC Peaceful’
Against the backdrop of repeated incursions by China into Indian territory, a top Army Commander on Saturday said the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was “absolutely peaceful and calm” and such incidents happen due to differences in perception. “The situation on the China border is absolutely peaceful and calm. There are no problems. There has been no incident of firing at the LAC. There are some areas where there is a difference of perception on the alignment of the LAC. We think it is some area and they think of some other,” General Officer Commanding in Chief(GoC-in-C), Lt Gen D S Hooda, told reporters here.
He said there was no demarcation of the LAC on the land and in such areas both Indian soldiers as well as Chinese soldiers do patrolling.
Pak Violates Truce
Violating the ceasefire again, Pakistani troops targeted Indian forward posts with small arms along the Line of Control in Jammu district, prompting Army troops to retaliate.
Pakistani troops opened unprovoked small arms firing at forward posts in Pallanwala sector of Jammu district around 2310 hours late on Friday, the Defence PRO said here on Saturday.