• Former Chief of Army Staff General Sundararajan Padmanabhan passed away at his residence in Chennai. He was 83. 

• He served as the Chief of Army Staff from September 30, 2000 to December 31, 2002.

• He was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for his services as the 15 Corps Commander.

An illustrious career

• General Padmanabhan was born in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala on December 5, 1940.

• His illustrious career included several prestigious command, staff and instructional postings, besides having participated in numerous operations. 

• A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) at Wellington in 1973 and the National Defence College (NDC) at New Delhi, he commanded an Independent Light Battery from August 1975 to July 1976 and later on commanded the Gazala Mountain Regiment from September 1977 to March 1980.  This mountain regiment is one of the oldest artillery regiments of the Indian Army and has participated in several wars. 

• He served as Gunnery Instructor at the School of Artillery in Deolali. He was a Brigade Major of an infantry brigade on its raising and served as Colonel General Staff of a Mountain Division from January 1983 to May 1985, where he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM).

• He has also spent two tenures as an instructor at the IMA. 

• He commanded an Infantry Brigade from December 1988 to February 1991 at Ranchi, Bihar and Punjab and was then appointed as the General Officer Commanding of an Infantry Division in Punjab from March 1991 to August 1992. 

• He served as Chief of Staff, 3 Corps from September 1992 to June 1993.

• After his promotion to Lieutenant General, he was commander of the 15 Corps in the Kashmir valley from July 1993 to February 1995. 

• It was during his tenure as the 15 Corps Commander, that the Army made big gains over the militants in Kashmir and could even scale down its operations.

• General Padmanabhan led the Indian Army during the crucial period of ‘Operation Parakram’.

• General Padmanabhan held the appointment of Director General Military Intelligence (DGMI) after the successful culmination of which, he took over as the GOC of the Northern Command at Udhampur on September 1, 1996. Before being appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, he was the GOC of Southern Command.

• He retired on December 31, 2002, after completing more than 43 years of distinguished military service. 

Operation Parakram

• ‘Operation Parakram’ was a significant military standoff between the Indian and Pakistani Armies that lasted from December 13, 2001 to June 10, 2002. 

• This tense situation arose in response to the terrorist attacks on the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly on October 1, 2001, followed by a devastating attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. 

• The Indian government, attributing the attacks to Pakistan-based militant groups, responded by mobilising its Armed Forces to the Line of Control (LoC), initiating a five-month confrontation aimed at pressuring Pakistan to take action against terrorism.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)