New Delhi: Maintaining the past tradition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is most likely to celebrate the festival of light – Diwali – with Indian Army soldiers this year too, sources have said.
According to the sources, the PM is likely to visit the Nowshera sector, along the Line of Control (LoC), in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district to celebrate Diwali with soldiers on Thursday.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to celebrate Diwali with the soldiers in Nowshera Brigade in Rajouri district,” the top officials said on condition of anonymity. PM Modi had arrived in Delhi on Tuesday after concluding his 5-day trip to Rome and UK for attending the COP26 Climate Summit.
The PM’s J&K visit comes amid a protracted encounter with terrorists in the Poonch district for the past 24 days. The Prime Minister had last visited Rajouri in 2019 when he celebrated Diwali with the soldiers.
“Though we await an official confirmation, PM Modi’s plan to celebrate Diwali with soldiers certainly boosts the morale of the soldiers,” an Army official said on the condition of anonymity.
PM Modi has been celebrating Diwali with Indian soldiers ever since he took the office of the Prime Minister in 2014. The Union Territory (UT) has lately been plagued by terrorist attacks. Five migrant workers were among 11 civilians killed in the region last month.
At least nine soldiers, including two junior commissioned officers, were killed in an encounter in Poonch’s Chamrer and Nar Khas areas on October 11 and 14, respectively.
The Indian Army has been conducting operations in the dense forests of the Rajouri-Poonch sector since October 11, trying to track down terrorists believed to belong to Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT0 who have gone to ground in the area.
In October alone, the army lost 11 soldiers south of Pir Panjal. In counter-attacks, at least 13 terrorists, including a top LeT commander, have been shot dead by security forces.
Meanwhile, Army Chief General M M Naravane arrived on a two-day visit to Jammu to review the security situation and operational preparedness.
General Naravane carried out aerial reconnaissance of forward areas in the Jammu region and was also briefed by commanders on ground on the prevailing security situation along the LoC.
