President Ram Nath KovindCiting the Pulwama terror attack, President Ram Nath Kovind praised the valour and sacrifice of security forces in protecting the country and its citizens, on Tuesday. Forces such as the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been playing a pivotal role in checking separatism and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
“The valour and bravery with which CRPF personnel faced the terrorists, who attacked the Parliament (in 2001), have become part of the legend of the country’s security forces,” said Kovind during a remembrance service at the National Police Memorial.
The service marks the annual ‘Valour Day’ of the CRPF, which remembers the gallant fight by its personnel at the Sardar post in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch, against Pakistani troops on this day in 1965. The President paid tributes to police and paramilitary personnel killed in the line of duty, including the 40 CRPF jawans who died in the Pulwama terror attack. He laid a wreath at the memorial, a 30-foot-tall and 238-tonne black granite structure. The memorial was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 21 last year on police commemoration day. “People queued up to pay their respect to their (CRPF personnel’s) sacrifice. I on behalf of the whole nation paid my deepest respect in remembrance of those brave hearts,” he said.
