President lays wreath at Kargil war memorial in Leh's Drass, celebrates Dussehra with troops

Jammu: Winding up his two-day visit to the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday celebrated Dussehra with troops and laid a wreath in homage to the brave soldiers of the Kargil war at the war memorial in Drass on Friday.

The President flew to Drass from Udhampur-based Northern Command and was received by Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh R K Mathur, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Kargil war hero and Northern Command chief Lt Gen Y K Joshi among other top dignitaries.

President Kovind visited the Kargil War Memorial at Drass and laid a wreath and paid homage to the brave soldiers who made a supreme sacrifice defending the nation at Kargil, officials said.

He later celebrated Dussehra with troops in Drass amid slogans of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.

Before flying to Drass, Kovind paid floral tributes to Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India, on his birth anniversary at the Northern Command in Udhampur, they said.

The President, on Thursday, commenced his visit to Ladakh and J&K  by arriving in Leh and performed Sindhu Darshan in Shey village while in the evening, he traveled to Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur area housing the Northern Command headquarters.

He interacted with Indian Army troops and their families at Udhampur and had ‘Bada Khana’ with troops on Mahanavami, the concluding day of nine-days long Sharad Navratri on Thursday night, they said.