Army’s bond with Kashmir, forged on 27 October 1947 when troops first landed in Srinagar, remains unbroken after 77 years. Beyond defending borders, soldiers have rebuilt villages, rescued civilians and educated children through Operation Sadbhavana.
Every October, as chinar leaves turn red and the air thins with the hint of winter, soldiers and civilians across India remember 27 October 1947—the day Indian troops first landed in Srinagar. For the rest of the country, the date marks a military milestone. But for those who live in the Valley, it also marks the beginning of an unbroken presence — men in olive green who became both protectors and neighbours, guardians and occasional go-betweens, witnesses to the region’s most turbulent years.
Seventy-seven years later, the infantry’s story in Kashmir is no longer just one of battles and borders. It is also a story of daily coexistence, of quiet endurance, and of an institution that has learned to wield patience and empathy alongside strength.
The Long Watch
When troops of 1st Battalion, The Sikh Regiment, landed at Srinagar on 27 October 1947, they were not just responding to a military crisis — they were protecting a promise. The tribal invasion launched from Pakistan had brought violence to Baramulla and Muzaffarabad; civilians, missionaries, and police were killed as the raiders pushed toward the capital. The landing of Indian infantry under Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Rai halted that advance, and in the days that followed, soldiers of 4 Kumaon, led by Major Somnath Sharma, fought to the death at Badgam, ensuring the Valley remained under Indian control.
From those first weeks of independence, the infantry became the constant presence in Kashmir’s shifting story. The faces have changed, but the mission — to defend, stabilise, and protect — has endured. From the ceasefire line of 1949 to the Line of Control of today, the men on those ridges are heirs to that first landing.
A Presence Beyond War
In the decades that followed, the infantry’s role expanded beyond the battlefield. As militancy erupted in the 1990s, soldiers found themselves not only fighting armed insurgents but also guarding schools, clearing snow-blocked roads, and helping restore communication after landslides and avalanches.
After the 2014 floods, when rivers swallowed whole neighbourhoods in Srinagar and Anantnag, it was the infantry that arrived with boats and ropes, rescuing more than 90,000 civilians in five days. Soldiers waded through waist-deep water carrying infants, elders, and medical supplies. No one asked for names or affiliations; there was only urgency.
Through Operation Sadbhavana, launched in 1998, the Army has built and supported over 200 schools and health centres, spending more than ₹450 crore to improve education and infrastructure in remote districts. In villages like Gurez, Bandipora, and Kupwara, Army-run schools have educated children who would otherwise have had to trek for hours through snow to reach the nearest classroom.
These efforts are not gestures of image-building; they are acts of continuity. They demonstrate how the infantry’s role has evolved — from defending boundaries to defending normalcy itself.
Adapting to the New Frontier
The battles in Kashmir have changed their shape. The enemy no longer wears uniforms or crosses borders in columns. It comes instead through infiltration routes hidden by forest and fog, or through encrypted communication and unmanned drones. The infantry has adapted accordingly.
Along the LoC, smart fences and thermal sensors complement foot patrols. Counter-drone systems and integrated surveillance networks now back up sentries in forward posts. The soldier’s equipment has changed — night-vision devices, digital radios, lighter weapons — but his burden remains the same: to decide correctly, under pressure, when to act and when to hold fire.
The post-Pahalgam Operation Sindoor in 2025 demonstrated that India’s armed forces can act swiftly and jointly when required. Yet even in that modern context, the final line of assurance remains human — the infantryman watching the horizon through the night, steady and alert.
The Human Ledger of Service
In the Valley’s collective memory, soldiers are as much part of daily life as the landscape itself. Markets reopen when convoys pass. Students wave at soldiers on winter mornings. There are tensions, too — born of fear, fatigue, and years of conflict. But beneath the unease runs a current of familiarity.
In remote hamlets, villagers still call the nearest post for help during emergencies. Army doctors run free clinics. Troops deliver textbooks to mountain schools. When roads close after snowfall, it is often the Army that clears them first. These are not acts that make headlines, yet they build something essential — a slow, patient trust forged through service more than words.
Generations Under the Same Sky
Many of the men who serve in Kashmir today are younger than the conflict itself. They come from distant towns — Jhunjhunu, Imphal, Satara — but over time, they become fluent in the rhythms of the Valley. They learn which paths freeze first, which villages lie cut off after rain, when the apple harvest begins. Some go back after their postings to visit families they once helped. Others stay in touch with children they taught during literacy drives.
It is this web of quiet relationships that gives meaning to the Army’s presence here. The infantry may operate in uniform, but its work in Kashmir often begins where governance ends — restoring, rebuilding, and reassuring.
The Shared Legacy of 27 October
Infantry Day is sometimes described as a celebration of courage. In truth, it is a commemoration of endurance — the endurance of both soldiers and civilians who have lived through decades of uncertainty. The first infantrymen who landed at Srinagar in 1947 fought to defend the state’s accession to India. Their successors today work to defend something equally fragile: peace.
Each patrol on the Line of Control, each rescue in a snowstorm, each school built under Sadbhavana extends the legacy of that first day. The weapons are different, the uniforms lighter, the challenges newer — but the spirit is the same.
As wreaths are laid at memorials this Infantry Day, it is worth remembering that the soldiers being honoured do not stand apart from the Valley; they stand within it. Their lives, like those of the people they protect, are written in the same landscape of patience and hope.
Seventy-seven years after the first aircraft touched down in Srinagar, the infantry’s oath remains unchanged: to defend the land, to serve its people, and to stand steady until peace takes root. In every season that has passed since, Kashmir has known that promise in its truest form — not as words, but as presence.