Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid rich tributes at the National War Memorial in New Delhi on the 50th-anniversary of the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
Vijay Diwas is observed every year on Dec 16, to commemorate India’s victory in the gruesome Indo-Pak war of 1971 that led to the formation of Bangladesh. The 1971 war lasted for nearly 13 days and ended on December 16 when Pakistan Army General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, with his troop of 93,000 soldiers, surrendered before the Indian Army and Mukti-Bahini leading to the separation of East Pakistan into the creation of a new state called Bangladesh.
PM Modi also lit the ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal’ from the eternal flame of the National War Memorial on the occasion. He was joined by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the chief of defence staff and tri-service chiefs as he laid a wreath and paid homage to the soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice for the country.
Four victory mashaals that is flaming torches will be carried to various parts of India, including to the villages of Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra awardees of the 1971 war, the defence ministry has said.
