Parrikar to visit Uri to pay homage to martyr

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will be visiting Uri to pay homage to the country’s first Param Vir Chakra recipient Major Somnath on his 69th death anniversary. Uri is where militants had attacked an army camp last month. This is scheduled in his two-day visit to Kashmir beginning on Wednesday. Officials said Parikkar will be briefed by army officials on the situation along the Line of Control arising due to the ceasefire violations by Pakistan in the wake of last month’s surgical strikes and the anti-militancy operations in the hinterland.

 Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said only one lakh ex-servicemen were facing problem in getting pension as per One Rank One Pensionscheme and it will be resolved within two months. The Defence Minister, accompanied by Army Chief General Dalbir Singh, was here to pay homage to Major Somnath Sharma, the first Param Vir Chakra awardee of independent India, and other soldiers who laid down their lives while pushing back an offensive by Pakistani raiders to control Srinagar Airport in 1947.