JAMMU, DECEMBER 7: Army, BSF and the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), in what may be called the first ever step towards joint cooperation and training between them, held a three day integrated small arms firing competition between themselves at Udhampur from December 5-7.
The initiative was part of the overall capacity enhancement effort and to achieve operational synergy between Army and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), said an Army spokesperson at Udhampur. The competition held at BSF’s Juganoo firing range on Udhampur’s Dhar road was followed by distribution of prizes among the participants.
Significantly in the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh, while BSF mainly mans the entire international border from Kathua to Kanachak in Jammu division, Army is deployed along the Line of Control with Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The ITBP mans border posts along the Line of Actual Control with China in Eastern Ladakh.
Pointing out that the event was designed to meet the contemporary operational requirement which included firing of various small arms to test speedy engagement and precision shooting, the spokesperson said Maj General MP Singh, General Officer Commanding of Dah Division, Brigadier Vikrant Nayyar, DIG Operations, Jammu Frontier, Brig Ananjai Singh, Cdr 87 Infantry Brigade, Varinder Datta, Commandant STC, Udhampur and Fateh Singh Gajraj, Deputy Commandant ITBP also attended the event to represent the respective services and showcasing the synergy at highest level.
The Northern Command’s Chief of Staff, Lt General N S Raja Subramani, exhorted upon all personnel to be prepared for an integrated battle in the future. He congratulated all the participants and the conducting staff for their efforts and bonhomie, besides complimenting all ranks of Army, BSF and ITBP for their exceptional standards of firing and high levels of training.
“Such initiatives will be organised extensively by the Indian Army in the future to further augment the operational capabilities of our Armed Forces,’’ the spokesperson said.
The interoperability between Army and CAPF is of utmost importance owing to highly sensitive and intense operations in Northern Command, the spokesperson said, adding “thee disposition of Army and CAPFs in Northern Command will necessitate an integrated battle in future operations’’.
