New Delhi: As the nation celebrates 16th anniversary of India's victory over Pakistan in Kargil war on Sunday, Drass in Jammu and Kashmir is gearing up to pay homage to martyrs of the war and celebrate the victory over the neighbour country in the 1999 war.
Army officers, war veterans and martyrs' families will be present at the wreath laying ceremony of the soldiers who laid down their life to protect the country's territory from infiltrating Pakistani forces. The function will be followed by interaction with veer naaris, the widows and mothers of martyrs.
Remembering the 1999 Kargil War, retired Air Chief Marshal AY Tipnis admitted coordination issues between the Army and the Air Force during the war.
"The entire operation started with failure - failure of intelligence, failure of not knowing between two services how the Army functions during winters. I think that even though the war carried on for two months for regaining our posts, I think we gained politically and in hindsight, I think it was a good decision," said Tipnis.
The day is named after Operation Vijay which was conducted to drive out the foreign forces trying to capture the areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Kargil war, which began in May 1999, lasted for more than two months before Pakistani soldiers, a bulk of them drawn from its Northern Light Infantry, and irregulars withdrew from the mountain tops they had occupied overlooking the Srinagar-Leh highway.
In the conflict, the Indian Army lost 490 officers, soldiers and jawans.
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