Indian President Ram Nath Kovind had to cancel his visit to the Kargil War Memorial located in the Drass District of Ladakh union territory on Monday due to poor weather conditions. This is the third year in a row that the president won't be reaching Drass on this day.
Every year since 1999, 26 July has been observed as "Vijay Diwas" (Victory Day) in India, to commemorate India's win in the Kargil War against Pakistan. The memorial for the fallen soldiers in the Kargil War is located in the Drass district.
To mark 22 years since India's victory in the Kargil War, President Kovind will be visiting the Indian Army's training facility, the High Altitude Warfare School, based in Gulmarg, Kashmir to interact and motivate soldiers there. He will also be laying a wreath at the War Memorial located in Kashmir's Baramula, Indian media reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is presently in Delhi and is attending the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament, paid his respects to the soldiers who fought the war in 1999 and refused to let Pakistani insurgents capture Kargil.
He shared an excerpt from an episode of his weekly podcast "Mann ki Baat" where he can be heard asking Indians to read more about the soldiers who had lost their lives in the Kargil war, among others.
The "Vijay Diwas" is an emotional and proud day for soldiers of the Indian Army. Multiple Army officers participated in two mega bike rallies over the weekend in order to be part of the official wreath-laying ceremony at the Drass-based Kargil Memorial.
Covering a distance of over 350 kilometres, the officers navigated through the rugged terrains of the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh at altitudes of over 11,000 feet to reach Drass. The rallies were led by Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Y K Joshi - who is himself a Kargil War veteran.
During the Kargil War, the Indian Army evicted Pakistani intruders from Indian soil and succeeded in recapturing the strategically located and one of the highest peaks in the region, Tiger Hill, as a part of "Operation Vijay".
At a "Hut of Remembrance" located in India's National Defence Academy near the city of Pune, the names of 559 soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the Kargil War are recorded.