Change of guard in Army's Northern Command as Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar hangs up boots

Jammu, April 30 (IANS) Amid ongoing tensions on the Line of Control with Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, Northern Army Commander, Lt Gen M.V. Suchindra Kumar, on Wednesday relinquished the command of the Udhampur-headquartered key formation on his retirement.

Lt Gen Pratik Sharma will be the new General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GoC) and will assume office on Thursday.

"Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar, Army Commander #NorthernCommand laid wreath to honour the supreme sacrifice of the #Bravehearts at Dhruva War Memorial, #Udhampur on superannuation & relinquishing command of the Northern Command", the Command said in a post on X.

Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar had taken over the key command, responsible for security and operations along India’s northern borders, including J&K, parts of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, from Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, the present army chief, in February last year and his tenure lasted for 15 months.

Tensions have mounted between the two countries after Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, sponsored and aided by Pakistan, killed 26 innocent civilians, including 25 tourists and a local, on April 22 in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam.

The entire country was outraged by the cowardly act of terrorists, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first reaction to the killings, vowed that the terrorists, their handlers, and backers would he chased and hunted down to the ends of the earth.

The Prime Minister met the Defence Minister, the National Security Advisor, the CDS and the chiefs of the army, the navy, and the air force on Tuesday and gave a free hand to the country’s armed forces to decide on timing, targets and magnitude of response to hunt down the terrorists responsible for Pahalgam attack and their backers.

On Monday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had a 40-minute-long meeting with the Prime Minister, after receiving a detailed briefing by the CDS on the preparedness of the country’s armed forces to meet any eventuality.

J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha had a security review meeting with Army chief, General Dwivedi, in Srinagar a few days ago.

The L-G asked the Army to use whatever force is required to hunt down the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack. Meanwhile, to send a powerful message to terrorists, their overground workers (OGWs) and sympathisers, security forces continue demolition of the houses of terrorists.

Last Friday, two houses belonging to Adil Hussain Thokar and Asif Sheikh were demolished in the Tral and Bijbehara areas.

Both these terrorists were part of the LeT terrorist group involved in the Pahalgam killings. Security forces have so far demolished the houses of 10 terrorists, who are reportedly still active in the Kashmir Valley.

On Monday, the J&K Assembly unanimously condemned the dastardly terrorist attack.

--IANS

sq/vd