NEW DELHI: Army establishments around the country mark October 27 as Infantry Day. It’s a tribute to the valour and sacrifices made by the first batch of Indian foot soldiers that was airlifted to Srinagar from Delhi on that day in 1947. The purpose was to stop invaders from Pakistan who had come in to plunder the valley and annex it for Pakistan. Indian soldiers were sent in after Maharaja Hari Singh, ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu & Kashmir, signed the instrument of accession and sought India’s military intervention. In this episode of ‘Simply Nitin’, StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale describes the incidents that led to Independent India’s first military expedition.
