Context:
The Indian Army’s Regiment of Artillery took out a motorcycle expedition to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Kargil War.
More on the News
- The rally has been named as ‘D5 Motorcycle Expedition’ because it covers places such as Dhanushkhodi, Dinjan, Dwarka, Delhi and the Kargil war memorial at Dras.
There will be multiple teams of expedition with multiple routes:
- One team started the expedition from Dhanushkhodi (Tamil Nadu) in the south
- Other two teams started their expedition from Dinjan (Assam) in the east, and Dwarka (Gujarat) in the west.
The teams will culminate the expedition at Dras in about 28 days.
About Kargil War
- The Kargil War was fought between India and Pakistan between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LOC).
- The war commenced shortly after the signing of the Lahore declaration in 1999, when Pakistani forces disguised as Kashmiri terrorists infiltrated on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) and took over winter-vacated posts of the Indian Army as part of “Operation Badr”.
- The aim was to cut the link between Kashmir and Ladakh, to isolate Indian Army troops on the Siachen Glacier, and force India to negotiate a settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
- During the war, the Indian Army evicted Pakistani intruders and succeeded in recapturing Tiger Hill and other posts as a part of “Operation Vijay”.
- During Operation Vijay a total of 674 Indian soldiers made the supreme sacrifice and were awarded 4 Param Vir Chakra, 10 Maha Vir Chakra and 70 Vir Chakra among others for gallantry.
- To commemorate India’s win in the war, the Kargil Vijay Diwas is celebrated every year on July 26.
- The Indian Army built ‘The Kargil War Memorial’ in Dras in Tololing Hill’s foothills in the year 2000. It was later renovated in 2014.