Srinagar: Lieutenant General Devendra Pratap Pandey will be demitting the office of General Officer Commanding Chinar Corps on Monday and Lieutenant General ADS Aujla will be taking over the command of 15 Corps.
“Change of command at Chinar Corps will take place on Monday,” sources in the Army said. “ Lt General ADS Aujla has already arrived in Srinagar and he will be taking over as new GOC of Chinar Corps.” Lt Gen Pandey is moving out to head the prestigious Army War College in Mhow as its commandant.
Pertinently, the Chinar Corps is the Army’s main formation in Kashmir tasked with combating terrorism and counter-infiltration operations in the Kashmir and along the Line of Control with Pakistan. Known as counter insurgency operations expert Lieutenant General ADS Aujla has commanded Kupwara based 28 Infantry division in Kashmir and has vast experience in counter-terrorism and counter-infiltration operations.
Lt Gen ADS Aujla was designated as the new General Officer Commanding (GOC) of XV Corps also known as Chinar Corps based in Badamibagh Srinagar in the first week of April.
Lt Gen Pandey’s tenure over the last one year is defined by an improved security environment prevailing both on the Line of Control and in Kashmir. With the civil administration and security forces synergising their efforts to bring normalcy back to Kashmir, terrorism is on decline with assessed residual terrorist numbers being the lowest in a decade.