Srinagar: Lt General Devendra Pratap Pandey on Wednesday assumed charge of the strategic Kashmir-based 15 Corps relieving Lt Gen BS Raju on the end of his one year tenure.
Lt Gen Raju, who has also served in past as Uri Brigade Commander, GOC of Victor Force, and commanded the 15 Corps in critical phase in 2020 where Kashmir was confronted with the twin challenges of militancy and coronavirus pandemic, handed over the charge to Lt Gen Pandey here on Wednesday, an army spokesperson said.
The outgoing GoC, he said, was moving to assume higher responsibilities as Director General of Military Operations of the Indian Army.
He said that during Raju’s tenure over the last one year, improved security environment prevailed both on the Line of Control and in Kashmir. He further said that militancy was on decline with assessed residual militant numbers being the lowest in a decade as civil administration and the state forces were making efforts to bring normalcy back to Kashmir,
“On the Line of Control, his approach combined a forward heavy deployment enabled by a dense electronic and surveillance grid. Pakistani cease fire violations were dealt punitive responses resulting in operational ascendancy by the Indian Army,” the army spokesperson said.
He said that the outgoing GoC strongly propagated for a second chance to the “misguided youth”, as he believes this to be critical to achieving lasting peace in J&K.
According to the army spokesperson, Lt Gen Pandey, an alumni of the National Defence Academy, Pune, was commissioned in December 1985 and has had an illustrious military career spanning 35 years during which he has held varied prestigious command, staff and instructional appointments.
“The General Officer has an incisive understanding of Jammu & Kashmir, having served here for multiple tenures since 1985, notably as General Officer Commanding, Counter Insurgency Force (Kilo) and as Commander 8 Sector Rashtriya Rifles. A postgraduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (Tamilnadu) & National War College, Washington DC (USA), the General was also posted as Military Observer in United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. Prior to this appointment, Lieutenant General DP Pandey held two important appointments at Army Headquarters as Additional Director General of Public Information and the Director General Territorial Army,” he said.
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