Indo-China war soldiers honoured for the first time
New Delhi: Defence Minister AK Antony on Saturday ruled out any possibility of the repeat of the war and said armed forces were confident of protecting the country against any such threat. He was paying homage to the soldiers, who were lost their life in 1962 war.
This is the first time that the Indian defence establishment has honoured the dead and participants of the 1962 war officially.
“I would like to assure the nation that India of today is not the India of 1962. Over the years, successive governments learning lessons from the past strengthened our capabilities and modernised our armed forces… we are confident armed forces will be able to protect the border in event of any threat,” he said on the sidelines of an event to honour the soldiers of the 1962 war on its 50th anniversary.
The Defence Minister, who along with Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh and the three services chiefs paid homage to the 1962 war heroes and laid wreaths at Amar Jawan Jyoti, said successive governments have learnt lessons from the war and strengthened military capabilities and developed infrastructure.
Asked about criticism that the military leadership was not much involved in 1962 and the lessons learnt from it, Antony said, “The major lesson is that we have to strengthen our armed forces to protect our borders. That we are doing and now we are in a position to involve armed forces, intelligence agencies and all those involved in the protection of national security that process is much more strong.”
Asked when will the Government take a decision on the Henderson Brookes report on the 1962 war, the Defence Minister said, “Let me take a decision.”
He said all issues relating to setting up of the national war memorial at India Gate have been sorted out and it was in the final stages of being cleared by the Government.
