Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 14: Western Army Commander Lt Gen Surinder Singh reviewed operational preparedness of the troops along Pakistan frontiers in Pathankot, Samba and Jammu sectors during his two-day visit to the border areas and reviewed situation prevailing along the International Border (IB) with top officers of the Army.
Joined by General Officer Commanding (GOC), Yol Cantonment based 9 Corps Lt Gen Ashok Amre and GOC Tiger Division Jammu Major General Gen Sanjeev Sharma among others, the Western Command chief visited several forward areas along the borders in Pathankot, Samba and Jammu and reviewed situation prevailing along the borders in view of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following September 29 surgical strikes by the Indian troops inside Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Sources said Lt Gen Surinder Singh had extensive briefing on the situation of Punjab borders around Pathankot with GOC 9 Corps Lt Gen Ashok Amre, and GOC Pathankot based 29 Division Major General Rajesh Chopra.
The Army officers briefed him on the situation prevailing along the borders post-surgical strikes including militant activities across International Border (IB) and the areas from where the militants could make attempts to infiltrate into the Indian territory.
The Western Command chief, while reviewing preparedness of the troops, reportedly said they were ready to meet with any kind of situation as they were in “high state of operational preparedness” with “very high morale”.
Calling upon the troops to remain alert and “operationally ready”, Lt Gen Surinder Singh called for the need to ensure fool-proof security measures in place at all defence installations to ward off possibility of any fidayeen attack like the one witnessed on January 2 in Pathankot and Uri (Baramulla) last month.
After visiting several border areas along Pathankot, Samba and Jammu, he had another high level security review meeting at Tiger Division, Jammu this morning, where he was briefed on the situation by Lt Gen Ashok Amre and GOC Tiger Division Major General Sanjeev Sharma among others.
The top Army officers briefed the Western Army Commander about situation on the borders. They said the Army was ready to meet any kind of situation on the borders and thwart fidayeen attacks on security installations like Pathankot, Uri and other places.
They briefed the Army Commander about measures put in place to thwart fidayeen attacks in the wake of inputs about increased presence of militants across the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB).
The International Border in Punjab and Jammu, apart from other States, is manned exclusively by the Border Security Force (BSF), which has also been maintaining high alert all along the IB in view of tense situation between India and Pakistan after surgical strikes in PoK in which over 50 militants and nine Pakistan Army jawans were killed and many others were left injured.
The Western Command, headquartered at Chandi Mandir, Chandigarh, has its areas in Punjab including Pathankot, where militants had carried out fidayeen attack on January 2 in which seven Army personnel including a Lieutenant Colonel were martyred while four to six militants were killed, and Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts.
The Western Army Commander returned to Chandigarh late this afternoon.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
