Kargil Vijay Diwas
JAMMU, July 20: A motorbike expedition to Ladakh by an all-women team of tri-services commemorating the 24th Kargil Vijay Diwas arrived at here today to a red carpet welcome.
The 25-member team travelling to Drass in the Ladakh Union Territory were flagged off from Delhi on Tuesday to mark 24 years of India’s victory in the Kargil War.
The ‘Nari Sashaktikaran Women Motorcycle Rally’ was flagged off by Army Chief General Manoj Pande from the National War Memorial (NWM) here.
The expedition, which will end at the Kargil War Memorial in Drass on July 25, is aimed at commemorating 24 years of India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1999 Kargil War and highlighting the indomitable spirit of women, officials said. During the rally, the team will stop at several schools and interact with students.
When the group arrived at the Presentation Convent here, the girl students accorded them a warm welcome by girl students. The team includes two ‘Veer Naris’, one of whom is a serving officer, 10 serving women officers of the Indian Army, one woman officer each from the Air Force and Navy, three women soldiers of the Army and eight spouses of armed forces personnel, PRO Defence Lt Col Suneel Bartwal said.
The team will celebrate the victory of the Indian armed forces in the Kargil War and pay tribute to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation, he said. “It is a beautiful initiative taken by the defence services to celebrate the 24th Kargil Divas,” Aishwarya Desai, part of the bikers’ team, told PTI. Desai said this expedition is the “best example of women empowerment”.
“Everything is possible. If a woman has that zeal and courage, nothing can stop her from achieving anything in this world”, she added. Another biker Nitinder Dutt said the bike rally celebrates the armed forces and its women power.
“We are all connected to the Vijay Divas. The country should never forget the sacrifices of those martyrs,” Dutt, a spouse of an army officer, said. At the Presentation Convent here, the bikers received a red carpet welcome on Thursday. Yuvna Sharma, a Class 12 student, said she was elated to welcome the women bikers and the expedition was an “inspiration” for all the students there.
Some students also shared their aspirations to join the Indian armed forces after meeting the expedition team. “I am so inspired by these women officers. I want to don the uniform to serve the nation”, Gunika Gupta, another student of the school, said. The school’s programme in-charge Ashu told that it was a great honour for them to be able to host these “courageous women bikers”. For this rally, the Army has partnered with TVS Motor, with the participants riding on TVS Ronin motorbikes.
The motorbike expedition will cover around 1,000 km, wherein the women will traverse through the plains of Haryana, Punjab and the high mountain passes of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to reach the Kargil War Memorial in Drass.(PTI)
On July 26, 1999, the Indian Army announced the successful culmination of “Operation Vijay”, declaring victory after a nearly three-month-long battle at the icy heights of Kargil, including high-altitude locations, such as Tololing and Tiger Hill. (PTI)
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