Monday, Sep 23, 2013
An Indo-Nepal Joint Military Training, Exercise Surya Kiran-V is being conducted at Pithoragarh from 23 Sep – 06 Oct 2013. In this exercise, an Infantry battalion from the Indian Army and an equivalent strength from the Nepalese Army would be sharing their experiences gained during the conduct of counter insurgency operations.
Based on an agreement during the 7th Nepal-India Billeted Consultative Group on Security, the two countries commenced joint training at platoon level (30 men each) in 2011. The first two joint exercises focused primarily on jungle warfare and counter insurgency operations. Troops shared their experiences and exhibited skill sets during joint training at Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairangate in Mizoram and a similar school at Amlekhganj in Nepal.
The level of joint training was upgraded to company level (consisting of approximately 120 men) in 2012 based on experience gained in previous two exercises in 2011. Company level joint training also focused on counter insurgency and jungle warfare operations in hilly terrain as the Himalayan region all along Indo-Nepal border is covered with thick jungles.
Surya Kiran-V is the fifth Indo-Nepal training exercise. It aims not only at training troops in Counter Terrorism Operations, but also in enhancing defence cooperation and military relations between the two nations. It provides an ideal platform for the personnel of the two countries to share their experiences on counter terrorists operations; especially in mountainous terrain, as also on aspects of disaster management. The training also envisages a full fledged exercise on organisation and conduct of disaster response and management operations.
This joint training, mutual interaction and sharing of experiences amongst both the countries shall further strengthen cultural and historical ties between both the nations and take bilateral relations forward.