Rajnath Singh, Army chief to attend Infantry Day anniversary event in J-K

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande will attend an event in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to mark the 75th anniversary of Infantry Day, officials said on Wednesday.

Infantry Day is celebrated to commemorate the arrival of Indian Army at Budgam airfield on October 27, 1947, to protect Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistani forces. It was the first military operation of Independent India.

The Army landed at the airfield after the 'instrument of accession' was signed on October 26, 1947, between the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir Hari Singh and the Union of India.

Some of the key scenes of the historic Budgam landings are scheduled to be reenacted, among other events planned to be held on Thursday to mark the landmark occasion.

"The defence minister and the Army chief will take part in the Infantry Day anniversary event in Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow. And, a number of other top officers of the armed forces will also be present," a senior official said on Wednesday.

In New Delhi, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial to commemorate the historic day, he said.

The reenactment of the historic event (Budgam landings) to be organised at Old Air Field, Srinagar, is to pay obeisance to the brave soldiers and people of Jammu and Kashmir who laid down their lives, and also to honour the next of kin of war heroes who participated in the 1947-48 war, another official said.

The Budgam landings were the first military operations of Independent India, and Thursday will mark the 75th anniversary of the key event.

Under command of Lieutenant Colonel Dewan Ranjit Rai, who later laid down his life at Baramulla, changed the course of the war, wherein people and soldiers of State Forces of Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Army fought alongside valiantly, to evict Pakistani forces, driving them out of most of Jammu and Kashmir till ceasefire on January 5, 1949, the Army had earlier said.