Jaitley armed forces chief pay homage to Kargil martyrs

New Delhi: Defence Minsiter Arun Jaitley and armed forces chief on Saturday paid tribute to the martyrs who gallantly laid down their life for the nation in the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan. 

Jaitley along with Army Chief General Bikram Singh, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Chief of the Naval Staff R K Dhowan paid homage to the martyred soldiers at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate in the national capital. 

“With regard to the war memorial, we have discussed various sites. India needs a war museum and as soon as the details are finalised, we will have to get sanctions from all the departments of the government. It will take some time before it’s completed. Whatever funds are required for that purpose, we will make it available,” said Jaitley. 

He also added that the best site available for the museum will be selected and he may visit a prospective site soon.
 

Each year since 1999, the ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’ is celebrated on July 26 every year to mark the exit of Pakistan Army from Indian territory and Indian Army bunkers captured by them. 

On ‘Vijay Diwas’ the nation remembers the soldiers who laid down their lives in the cold desert of Ladakh, fighting to reclaim every inch of their motherland.  Fought under the NDA government led by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Kargil conflict was the most serious military engagement between the two neighbours since the war of 1971 that resulted in the division of Pakistan into two countries and the creation of Bangladesh.