Army Commander Northern Command Lieutenant General Pratik Sharma travelled to South Kashmir to review the security environment and the operational preparedness of troops deployed in the sector. He was briefed on evolving security dynamics, operational challenges and the steps underway to strengthen the security grid, defence sources said.

The interaction took the Army Commander through formations under Chinar Corps, the corps responsible for the Kashmir Valley's southern reaches under Northern Command. Headquartered at Udhampur and carrying the motto Always in Combat, the command traces its ethos to the wider one the Indian Army maintains across its formations along the Line of Control.

Technology sits at the centre of the Army Commander Northern Command briefing

Deliberations during the visit focused heavily on integrating technology to sharpen surveillance, intelligence gathering and operational awareness, with officers telling Lt Gen Sharma that a swift response to emerging threats depends on how well these inputs are fused at the ground level. The Army Commander was walked through measures already in place and those still being rolled out, defence sources said.


A command that has leaned on this playbook before

Army Commander Northern Command Lt Gen Sharma has made something of a habit of these sector level reviews since taking over the command in April last year. He chaired a similar joint control centres' meeting in Udhampur in February, where the focus was intelligence sharing and inter agency coordination with the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the CRPF, and visited a forward post in Rajouri in March after troops there foiled an infiltration bid.

The visit also follows a pattern of high level reviews across the command this year, including a three day tour of the LoC sector by the Chief of the Army Staff in July and an earlier review of the security situation by the then Army Chief at Northern Command headquarters.

Troops commended for morale and readiness

The Army Commander's interaction with troops was framed as motivational rather than procedural.

He commended personnel for their professionalism, high morale and what the Command described as an indomitable spirit, and exhorted them to remain proactive, adaptive and mission ready. Sustaining operational dominance in the sector, he told them, depends on that posture holding through changing conditions on the ground.

South Kashmir's place in a wider counter infiltration effort

South Kashmir has remained a focus area for the counter infiltration grid the Army has built up across Jammu and Kashmir over the past decade. The Ministry of Defence's own year end assessment for 2025 recorded thirteen schemes worth Rs 1,958.80 crore contracted that year to strengthen the counter insurgency and counter terrorism grid, alongside a standing assessment that Pakistan continues to look at the Poonch Rajouri belt as a route for proxy war.

Northern Command's footprint beyond the security grid

The command's formations have also been called on for humanitarian tasks this year, including the White Knight Corps flood rescue in Rajouri, a reminder that Northern Command's remit in Jammu and Kashmir extends beyond the counter infiltration grid alone.