By IANS,
New Delhi : Forty years after he fought in the 1971 India-Pakistan war to liberate Bangladesh, Indian Army chief General V.K. Singh will be on a five-day visit to Dhaka beginning June 19 in an effort to take forward the growing defence relations between the South Asian neighbours, army officials said Thursday.
General Singh, who as a freshly commissioned second lieutenant in the Rajput Regiment in 1971, went to battle during the Bangladesh liberation war, will meet top government leaders, senior armed forces officers and also attend the passing-out parade of two batches of the Bangladesh Military Academy in Chittagong during this visit.
Army officials said here that their chief will fly to Dhaka June 19 on the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart Gen Mohammed Abdul Mubeen.
General Singh, who will be accompanied by his wife Bharti Singh and five senior army officers, will call on President Mohammed Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also meet senior officers of the Bangladesh armed forces.
At Chittagong, he will be the chief guest to review the passing-out parade of the 64th Long Course and the 35th Special Course of the Bangladesh Military Academy June 22. He will return to India June 23.
As India’s eastern army commander based in Kolkata prior to taking over as the army chief, General Singh made special efforts to expand the military-to-military ties between India and Bangladesh.