Manju Kanwar, mother of Major Sandeep Shankla, pays tributes to her son on the eve of Kargil Vijay Diwas in Panchkula.

Commemorating the 27th Kargil Vijay Diwas, homage was paid to martyrs of the Kargil War at Major Sandeep Shankla Memorial in Panchkula by veterans under the aegis of the India Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM).

As many as 527 soldiers made the supreme sacrifice during the war, fought between May and July 1999 in the rugged, icy heights of the Kargil sector of Jammu and Kashmir, with another 1,363 soldiers being severely wounded. Former Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, Panchkula Mayor Sham Lal Bansal and veterans including Lt Gen Harcharan Singh, Lt Gens BS Jaswal, Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, Lt Gen Shankar Ghosh, Lt Gen JP Singh, Lt Gen AN Aul and Maj Gen RS Mehta, paid floral tributes at the memorial.

During the event, veterans said India has been facing myriad and serious security challenges – continuing terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, unrest in the north-east, Naxal challenge in central India and Chinese incursions.