Army Chief Kashmir Visit: Gen Dhiraj Seth Calls on LG Sinha, CM Abdullah in Srinagar

Army Chief Kashmir Visit began on Tuesday afternoon, when Gen Dhiraj Seth flew in directly from New Delhi to 15 Corps headquarters at Badamibagh Cantonment in Srinagar. It was his first trip to the Kashmir Valley since taking over as Chief of Army Staff on June 30, and it came inside a week of him replacing Gen Upendra Dwivedi at the top of the Army.

No official statement followed the arrival itself. Sources familiar with the briefing said the new Chief was closeted with senior Army commanders for a first-hand account of the situation across every front in Jammu and Kashmir.

Army Chief Kashmir Visit Opens With a Security Review at 15 Corps

The briefing covered the Line of Control, ongoing anti-terror operations and the Amarnath Yatra, now past its first week. Formations, deployments and the Anti-Infiltration Grid along the LoC with Pakistan featured prominently, officers said, since this was Gen Seth's first look at the Valley's order of battle as Chief rather than as a visiting Army Commander.

Operations continue in Shopian and Rajouri, where troops believe terrorists are sheltering in the upper reaches.

15 Corps carries the nickname Chinar Corps and has held the Kashmir Valley account since the early 1970s, running its own counter-infiltration grid opposite Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Badamibagh Cantonment, on the banks of the Jhelum in central Srinagar, has served as its base for decades.

Calls on LG Manoj Sinha and CM Omar Abdullah

From Badamibagh, Gen Seth travelled to Lok Bhavan to call on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. A statement issued by the Lieutenant Governor's office said the two reviewed the prevailing security situation in the region. Lieutenant General Balbir Singh, General Officer Commanding of the Chinar Corps, accompanied the Chief through both engagements.

A Courtesy Call With Congratulations Attached

Gen Seth then drove to the Chief Minister's residence. Omar Abdullah congratulated him on the appointment and wished him well in the new posting, a call that both Srinagar-based outlets and the Lieutenant Governor's statement described as brief.

Calling on both the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister has become close to standard practice for a new Army Chief's first Valley visit, a nod to the layered arrangement under which Sinha holds the security portfolio while Abdullah runs the elected government, an arrangement in place since Jammu and Kashmir returned to elected rule in October 2024.

The Chief the Valley Already Knows

Gen Dhiraj Seth is not new to Jammu and Kashmir. His appointment notice, issued through a Ministry of Defence release from the Press Information Bureau, records a Counter-Insurgency Force he raised and led in the Union Territory earlier in his career, alongside tenures commanding the Sudarshan Chakra Corps and, later, both the South Western and Southern Commands of the Indian Army. Few officers reach the Army's top post carrying that particular mix of desert armour and Valley counter-insurgency experience.

The South Western Command posting put him in the chair Lt Gen Mohit Malhotra now occupies at Jaipur, a command built around Rajasthan's armoured and mechanised formations and one that has driven recent orders such as the Suryastra rocket launcher programme.

A Broader Pattern of Command Visits

Army Chief Kashmir Visit fits a wider pattern this year: four-star officers making the Union Territory an early stop after taking over their commands. Days earlier, the new Chief of Defence Staff, Gen NS Raja Subramani, spent three days touring Northern Command headquarters at Udhampur, the Nagrota and Srinagar Corps, and forward posts along the LoC, in his own first visit to the Union Territory after succeeding Gen Anil Chauhan on May 31. Chauhan had held the Chief of Defence Staff post since September 2022, taking over after the death of the country's first CDS, Gen Bipin Rawat, in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

The command changes have coincided with a steady run of capability inductions further down the chain, from loitering munitions delivered to frontline units to new rocket artillery entering service.

What the Amarnath Yatra Adds to the Calendar

The pilgrimage began on July 3 and runs 57 days, concluding on August 28 to coincide with Sharavan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan. Troops have been posted at vulnerable points along the route, including the peaks that ring the cave shrine in South Kashmir. Officials said 1.17 lakh pilgrims had completed darshan of the ice lingam in the pilgrimage's first five days.

The pilgrimage runs on two routes this year, the shorter and steeper Baltal track and the traditional Pahalgam approach through Chandanwari and Sheshnag. Troops hold piquets on both, working alongside the Central Reserve Police Force and the Jammu and Kashmir Police under the multi-tier grid that goes up every yatra season.

Gen Seth is scheduled to travel to Northern Command headquarters in Udhampur on Wednesday for a further review of the security situation, according to officials cited by local reporters in Srinagar.